New Cop In Town
by Ninjazz
Summary: Jill's first day as a young cop on the RPD; with Chris as her partner. The idea was just for fun, so please don't bash it if you don't like it.
1. They Met

Chris sat in the driver's seat of the police cruiser, sighing. He was supposed to be out on patrol today, but he was called back to the station. He was in the parking lot now, trying to put his thoughts together. Why did he get called back? He had been doing everything right, and he was one of the best cops in the station. He couldn't figure it out, so he opened the door and got out.

"Redfield," said an older man. Chris looked up and saw the Chief of Police, Brian Irons. "Get over here."

Chris sighed. _Irons; go fuck yourself,_ he thought as he headed towards the station gate. "You called, sir?" he asked.

"Yeah, took your sweet time getting here! Nonetheless, I'd like to introduce you to our new officer, and your new partner," said Irons.

"With all due respect, sir, I don't need a partner," Chris protested.

"Don't give me that shit, Redfield. You're getting a partner, and don't you dare give her a hard time," said the Chief.

Chris looked up. "Her?" he asked.

Irons nodded. "Yeah, I present Officer Jill Valentine," he said, moving aside. A young girl, about Chris's age, walked up to them and stood straight. "Valentine, this is your partner, Christopher Redfield."

Jill looked to Chris and smiled, holding her hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said. Chris could hear the faint proof that she wore braces. Still, he took her hand and shook it.

"Pleasure's all mine, Valentine," he said.

"Jill," she said.

"Well, I'll let you kids get to your patrol then, off with you!" said Irons as he walked inside the station and slammed the door behind him.

Chris looked over to Jill and noticed she was standing in a perfectly straight posture, smiling as the Chief left. _Great, a suck-up,_ he thought.

Jill sighed. "Man, that guy's a real asshole," she said.

Chris burst out laughing. _Then again,_ he thought. "Yeah, he is. He's pretty much hated me since I started working here," he said.

Jill smiled. "I was asking him questions and he was just stuffing his face with Twinkies...I mean, it was just gross," she said.

"Oh Twinkies, it's how he solves every problem, or answers every question. Anyways, come on, we'd better get going before he turns into a crazy Twinkie monster and tries to eat us too," Chris said, walking to his cruiser. Jill followed him, laughing. They got in the car, and he looked over to her. "Valentine, huh?" he asked.

Jill nodded. "But really, please, just Jill," she begged.

Chris nodded in return. "It's just that I've heard that name before," he said. Jill shrugged, and they drove out of the station parking lot and down the road.

"So, working on any big cases?" Jill asked.

Chris laughed, "Big cases in Raccoon City? Please, nothing ever happens here," he said.

Jill looked at him. "Hey, how old are you?" she asked.

Chris was caught off guard by the random question, but grinned. "Nineteen, I joined up almost right after High School," he said. He glanced over to her, still grinning. "What about you, miss braces?" he said, hoping she wouldn't get offended.

"Just a year below that," she said.

"Really? Wouldn't that mean you just finished High School?" he asked.

"To be honest, I never finished..." she said.

Chris frowned. "How did you become a cop without finishing High School?" he asked.

Jill sighed. "Well, it wasn't the path I was supposed to head for so I apparently didn't need a full High School degree, but Irons cut me a deal if I joined, because of my skills," she said.

Chris was intrigued. "Skills? Wait...you cut a deal with Irons? You didn't-"

Jill punched him on the arm, but not too hard. "No, Chris, I didn't do THAT. Let's just say I was supposed to be on the other side of the law, but he decided he wanted to use my so-called talents for his team, or something like that," she said.

Chris blinked like something hit him, apart from Jill. "That's it! Valentine!" he said.

Jill looked at him. "Jill!" she said.

"No no, I mean I know where I've heard that name! Are you related to Dick Valentine? The all-time biggest badass of thieves?" he asked, excited.

Jill looked away. "Yeah," she said. "He's my father."

"Oh," Chris said, "sorry. I heard he got busted, which I can't say I'm too upset about...You got caught too, didn't you?" he asked.

Jill nodded. "Yeah, which is the deal I was talking about. Irons said he'd keep me out of any reports or jails if I promised to join his team and use my talents for good," she said.

Chris's car radio luckily sounded just in time to interrupt a conversation Jill really didn't want to be having. "This is Officer Barry Burton, calling for backup. We have a code Pink at the Raccoon mall. I repeat, code Pink at the Raccoon mall. Redfield, do you copy?" asked the man on the radio.

Chris grabbed the radio and pressed the button. "This is Redfield, bringing backup to location, hold your position, over!" he said, and put the radio back down.

"Roger that, holding until backup arrives, over and out," said Burton.

Chris flicked the sirens on and stepped on the gas. Jill grinned. "No excitement in Raccoon City, huh?" she mocked.

"Trust me, no excitement whatsoever," he said, turning onto the main streets. Cars moved out of the way as he sped by, heading towards the mall.


	2. Code Pink

"So, how come he only called to you? Wouldn't there be a general call for backup?" Jill asked.

Chris nodded. "Barry's a friend, we have our codes and understand each other very well," he said.

"This isn't serious, is it..." she said.

Chris looked at the clock and sped up. "It's Wednesday and it's eleven in the morning...damn right it's serious," he said. He saw the entrance to the mall and drove in, speeding towards the building.

As they got closer, Jill could see a group of teenage girls standing outside the building's entrance, laughing. One of them looked up at the sound of the approaching police sirens, and her face filled with panic. Jill noticed, and looked to Chris. "Um, maybe you should slow down?" she suggested.

Chris's attention was glued to the group of girls.

"Chris?" Jill asked, worried. "What's this all about?"

He turned the wheel and made the cruiser drift, stopping right next to the sidewalk where the girls were standing. Jill saw the panicked girl turn and run towards the mall's door, but ran into a big tall policeman. She stepped back looking up at him, and turned to run down the sidewalk. Jill watched her go, then heard a car door and turned to see Chris running out of the car and chasing the girl. She got out as well, and looked at the tall officer that had blocked the girl's escape. "Does he need help?" she asked him.

Barry laughed. "You must be Valentine, the new kid," he said as he walked over to her.

She nodded. "Just Jill please, sir," she said.

"Sir?" asked Barry. He laughed again. "Call me Barry, please," he said. They shook hands and watched as Chris chased the girl down the road. She jumped up to climb a fence, but he grabbed her by the backpack and pulled her down. She turned and tried running but he held on to the bag tightly.  
"Well, he's got her," said Jill.

The girl moved her arms and took off the bag, then started down the road again. Chris chased her again, carrying the backpack. It slowed him down a bit, and the girl was surprisingly fast.

"She didn't even do anything!" said one of the girls from the teenage group.

Jill turned around. "Shouldn't you all be in school right now?" she asked.

"It's, um, a PD day!" said one of the girls.

"What the hell is that cop's problem?" asked another.

Barry turned around. "I know for a fact that today is NOT a PD day, and if you don't want us to bring you to your parents' work in handcuffs, you might want to march yourselves back to school," he said.

The girls looked at one another, and headed in the mall towards the bus station.

"Nice bluff, Barry!" Jill said.

Barry grinned. "I have two daughters, so I know how to handle these things," he said.

Jill smiled. Barry seemed like a nice man, and she might actually end up liking this job. That's, if Chris stopped chasing kids around and explained to her what was going on. "So, yeah, should we help Chris?" she asked.

Barry shook his head, and they watched on. In the distance, Chris stumbled and almost fell down, and suddenly he seemed filled with anger. Several people were watching this, and he refused to be made a fool. He threw the bag on the sidewalk and picked up his speed, running behind the girl. Once he got close enough, he leaped forward and tackled her to the ground. She cried out as she hit the pavement.

Barry walked to where the backpack was to retrieve it, and Jill watched in horror as Chris handcuffed the girl and pulled her to her feet. He pushed her towards the cruiser, and as they got closer Jill could see the girl's jeans had torn at the knee, which was scraped and a bit bloody. She could see they'd been arguing the whole way, and the girl had an over-exaggerated limp.

"...my freaking jeans, and that was a new pair!" said the girl.

"Serves you right for trying to outrun me, now get in the car!" he said. He got to the cruiser and opened the backdoor.

The girl stopped and looked over to Jill. "Who's this, your girlfriend?" she asked.

"I SAID IN THE CAR!" Chris said as he grabbed the girl by the shoulder and pushed her in the car, and slammed the door shut. He then walked around the car and over to Jill. Barry also returned with the backpack, handing it to Chris.

"What the hell was all that about?" Jill asked, confused.

Barry laughed. "Coffee?" he asked.

Chris nodded. "We'll meet you at Emmy's in a bit," he said. Barry nodded and waved to them both as he headed back towards his own cruiser. Chris turned back to Jill. "You drink coffee, right?" he asked.

Jill folded her arms. "Chris, I need answers please! What just happened? What are you charging that girl with?" she asked.

"I'm not charging her for anything," he said.

"Well what did she do?"

"She's skipping school," Chris said.

"Chris, skipping school is not an offense that calls for police measures such as tackling and handcuffs," Jill said. Chris got into the driver's seat of the cruiser, and Jill got in the passenger's seat.

"It should be a crime punishable by death," he said as he looked into the rear-view mirror.

"Bite me," said the girl in the back.

Jill turned and looked at her. She had blood running from her knee, and she had a few dirt spots on her face. Jill examined her carefully, and noticed the girl had a bruise under her eye, but managed to cover it pretty well with cover-up; it was nearly invisible. Jill guessed her age to be around twelve or thirteen, but she looked like a tiny Harley-chick. She had her red hair tied into a short ponytail at the back, and her bangs were in her face. She wore a black t-shirt with a little red sleeveless jacket over it. The girl looked at her, and Jill could see her eyes were a bright blue, nearly grey. "What?" asked the annoyed girl.

Jill turned back and looked at Chris. "So where are you taking her?" she asked.

Chris turned to look at her, and she noticed his eyes were the same as the girl. "Well we're getting coffee with Barry. I guess she'll wait in the car, not like she has anywhere better to be apparently," he said, glancing up at her again.

Jill shook her head. "We should take her home, Chris."

The girl leaned forward, shifting uncomfortably in the handcuffs. "Yeah, take me home," she said.

Chris shook his head. Jill looked back to her. "Wouldn't your parents be pissed off if they knew you were skipping school?" she asked, hoping to scare her.

The girl blinked and sunk back into the seat, looking out the window. Jill noticed she'd started to cry quietly, and looked back to Chris. "I think I scared her," Jill said confidently.

Chris looked down. "Jill, her parents were killed in an accident," he said calmly.

Jill felt a knot in her throat. "Oh God..." she said, and turned around. "I'm really sorry," she said.

The girl nodded, looking outside. Chris glanced into the rear-view mirror, then sighed and got out of the car. He opened the back door and leaned inside. "Turn around," he said. The girl turned and he took off the handcuffs. He then stepped back and sighed again. "Get out," he said, but didn't sound angry anymore.

The girl got out of the car slowly, and he hugged her. She sighed and hugged him back. "Can I go back to the mall?" she asked.

Chris grinned. "Nice try, but you're getting back in the car," he said.

Jill watched, confused, as the girl pouted and got back in the car. Chris did the same, and Jill saw that they both had the same forced smile on their face. "You know, if she were older you two would pass for twins," she said.

Chris looked over to her, and really smiled this time. "Yeah, and she's nearly as fast, too," he said.

"I saw the resemblance in your eyes. You two are siblings, right?" she asked.

Chris nodded. Jill smiled and looked at the girl in the back. "Well it's nice to meet you, Chris's sister," she said.

"Whatever, can I go home now?" the girl asked.

Chris looked up in the mirror. "Claire, be nice. And no, you can't go home. Not until I get off work, anyways," he said.

Claire folded her arms. "So what am I supposed to do, hang out with you and brace-face over here?" she asked. She saw Jill look away uncomfortably, and felt a bit bad.

Chris turned around. "I said be nice. And you have two options...either go back to school, or stay with us," he said. "Come on, I can get you a cheeseburger?" he offered.

Claire sat up straight, and nodded. "Okay, and a milkshake too?" she asked. Chris sighed and nodded, then turned around and started the car. Jill put on her seatbelt, sinking in her seat.


	3. The Awkward Coffee

Jill looked over to Chris as he drove. "So, what's Emmy's?" she asked.

Chris looked over. "It's a Diner; we go there all the time. Emmy knows us well, and their food's great!" he said. "It's one of the few places Claire's aloud to be when I'm not around," he grinned up in the mirror, then drove the car down the street in the direction of the Diner.

"So I guess you're well-known in this city?" Jill asked.

Chris shrugged. "Not really, we just have some regular places. And speaking of," he said. Jill looked up and saw they were pulling up in front of Emmy's Diner. The car stopped and Chris pulled out the keys, smiling over. "Barry should be meeting us here soon enough. Come on," he said as he got out of the car.

Jill did the same and closed her door, then watched him walking towards the building. "Uh, Chris, what about your sister?" she called out.

Chris turned around and shrugged. "She's fine," he said. He saw the confusion in Jill's face and grinned, walking back to the car. "I'm just kidding, I'd never do that..." he said, opening the backdoor.

Claire got out of the car, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. "You've done it before," she said.

"That was different; I had business to deal with and didn't want you-"  
"To get hurt, I know...I'm just saying you've done it before," Claire said, walking towards Emmy's door.

Chris glanced over to Jill and sighed. She gave him a reassuring smile and they both walked slowly towards the building. "I guess it's tough, huh?" she asked.

Chris nodded. "For awhile, she wouldn't even talk to me. At least now we have SOME conversations..." he said, sighing again.

Claire disappeared into the Diner, and Jill grabbed Chris's hand. "Hey, I know we just met today, but if ever you need a hand with anything, just let me know okay?" she said, smiling.

Chris nodded. "Thanks, Jill. You know, I'm actually glad Irons gave me a partner," he said, smiling back. He then grabbed the doorknob and held the door opened for her. "Ladies first," he said.

"Thanks," Jill said as she walked in. She looked around and saw Claire walking into the washroom.

Chris walked in behind her and waved to Emmy, then lead Jill to an empty booth. They sat down and a waitress brought them each a coffee. Chris ordered a cheeseburger and milkshake, and the waitress walked back towards the kitchen. Chris sipped the coffee and looked up at Jill. "So, how long have you been in Raccoon?" he asked.

"Not very," she said, sipping the coffee as well.

Claire climbed on the back of the bench where Chris was sitting and walked behind him, then sat down next to him, leaning against the wall. She'd cleaned the smudges on her face, but Jill noticed she'd put more cover-up on that bruise. Chris looked at her and shook his head. "Next time, ask me to move please," he said.

"Fine," Claire responded, and started digging in her backpack.

"Do you have homework or anything you can do?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

Chris grinned. "So do it. Just because you got out of school, doesn't mean you're escaping it entirely," he said.

Claire shook her head. "I'm not doing it. I'll deal with the teachers tomorrow," she said.

Chris sighed and got up from the bench. "Why do I even bother," he said. "I'll be right back, please don't kill my partner while I'm gone," he said as he walked away towards the bathroom.

Jill watched him leave then looked over to his sister. She'd taken his coffee and was sipping it, staring at Jill, which was very uncomfortable. "So..." Jill said, turning the cup in circles to make the coffee stir.

Claire put the cup down and kept staring at her. Jill shifted on the seat. "I have to say, this is the most awkward coffee I've ever had," she said, staring into the cup to try and avoid the stare.

"Why's that?" Claire asked, leaning forward and still staring.

Jill kept looking away. "Well, it'd be cool if we got to know each other, since I'm your brother's partner now," she said.

Claire leaned back. "And by partner, what exactly do you mean?" she asked.

"Police partner?" Jill said.

"Uh huh...see, he's never accepted a partner before, so maybe he has different plans for you," Claire said.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure he does..." she said sarcastically, and took a sip from her coffee.

"Yeah, maybe not...I mean, he wouldn't think about dating someone he just met," she said.

Jill nodded, still sipping the coffee.

"Probably just wants to fuck you," she said, and Jill spat out her coffee on the table and coughed. Claire jumped back, and burst out laughing. "I was joking!" she said, laughing hysterically. Jill nodded, taking deep breaths and trying to wipe the table with a napkin.


	4. This Costume Came With Training

Chris was standing at the counter, talking with Emmy, and looked up when he heard laughing. He was nearly in shock. Claire was laughing, and it wasn't forced! He nodded to Emmy and walked over with the milkshake in hand. When he got to the booth, Jill was cleaning coffee off the table while Claire was in her corner still giggling. He looked at her and smiled. "Hey Claire, would you mind going to see Emmy for a sec? Your cheeseburger should be ready soon," he said.

Claire nodded and slid out of the booth, still laughing. Chris watched her go, and sat down quickly facing Jill. "What did you do!" he asked.

Jill looked up, worried. "I swear I didn't mean to! The, um, coffee was too hot and I accidentally spat it out," she said.

Chris shook his head. "No, I don't mean the spill...Why is she laughing?" he asked.

Jill glanced over to Claire, and sighed. "Your sister can read people really well...she noticed I was feeling awkward, and it seemed like she was purposely making it worse. I guess my reaction made her laugh, I don't know."

Chris smiled. "Well, thanks," he said.

"What for?" asked Jill, wiping the side of her cup.

"Jill, I haven't seen her laugh or even smile once since our parents died...She has the habit of forcing a smile but I can always tell. Now, though, she's actually laughing! This is a great improvement," he said.

"That's sad," Jill said, looking over to Claire. She'd stopped laughing and was serious again, talking with Emmy.

Chris nodded, following Jill's gaze. "See? You're the only one who's managed to get her smiling. What's your secret?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything, she basically made herself laugh!" Jill said defensively.

"I doubt it, come on! You must've said something," Chris said.

Jill shook her head. "Seriously, Chris...your sister's just crazy, crude, and extremely awkward..." she said.

Chris frowned. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, it's fine," Jill said, grinning in Claire's direction. "I think we'll get along just fine."

The bell at the door rang and they both looked over to see Barry walk in, grinning as usual. He looked around, spotted them, and walked over to the booth. "Hey Chris, need to talk to you for a second," he said.

Chris looked over to Jill, who nodded. "I'll wait here," she said. Chris got up and followed Barry outside, leaving Jill a bit confused. _Must've been real private,_ she thought. She stared at the door, trying to figure out what it could've been about. Maybe there was a major crime going on, or a big case that required every officer in the city. She wasn't sure.

Jill suddenly jumped back to reality when a hand waved in front of her face. She looked up and saw Claire sitting across from her, waving her hand around. "Still alive in there?" she asked.

Jill nodded. "Sorry, I was spaced out..." she said. "How long were you sitting there?"

Claire shrugged. "I just sat down and noticed you weren't really paying attention. Hey, you should try the cheeseburgers here," she said as she took a bite out of hers.

Jill shook her head. "I'm really not hungry, thanks. Oh, may I ask you a question?" she asked. Claire nodded, and Jill leaned forward slightly. "Just how did you get that bruise under your eye?" she asked.

Claire put the cheeseburger down and looked back towards the door, then in Emmy's direction. She sighed and looked back to Jill. "How did you know?" she asked.

Jill shrugged. "Well for one thing, there's a bruise under your eye," she said obviously. "Also, you might be able to fool Chris with cover-up, but a girl's eye is trained to notice these things."

Claire looked back to her. "You can't tell him! He'll just go and make things worst!" she said.

_Great, now you're involved, _thought Jill. She folded her arms over the table and looked at her. "Claire... does your brother-"  
"No way!" Claire interrupted. She was nearly in tears again.

Jill blinked. For a kid, she was pretty quick. "Okay then, what happened?" she asked. Claire looked aside, and Jill knew she was losing the girl's attention. "Don't worry, I won't tell Chris if that's what you're worried about. It's not my place to do so," she said.

Claire shook her head. The bell for the door rang and she looked over her shoulder, expecting her brother to walk in with Barry. Instead, she saw three guys from her school, dressed in the same black leather jackets, looking around proudly as if they owned the place. Claire quickly turned around and looked down, popping up the collar on her jacket to hide her face.

Jill watched, confused, and looked over to the boys who'd just walked in. "Great...Delinquents," she said. She looked back to Claire. She knew the girl was either scared or embarrassed, so she looked around to find a distraction. "Hey, your milkshake's melting," she said.

Claire looked at her, then at the milkshake, but kept her face mostly hidden behind the popped collar. She grabbed the shake and took a sip. Jill grinned. "So, what do you think they're talking about outside?" she asked.

Claire shrugged, glancing over her shoulder. "They do it a lot. I don't think he wants me to hear his police stuff," she said.

Jill frowned. "Wouldn't he want me to hear it though? I'm supposed to be his partner," she said.

Claire looked back to Jill. "How long have you been a cop?" she asked.

"This is sort of my first day," Jill said. "Why?"

"Just wondering how good you are, as a cop I mean," Claire said.

Before Jill could respond, the three boys in the leather jackets walked up to their booth. Jill saw Claire quickly look away as the tallest kid put his hands on the table. "Well well, looks like Red's been hiding here all along, guys," he said to his friends. He looked at Jill and grinned, then back to his friends. "And with cops, even," he added.

Jill sighed. _God, I hate kids like this,_ she thought. She looked over to Claire. "Friends?" she asked.

Claire shook her head. "Hell no," she said.

Jill nodded and looked back up to the boy. "Then I'll have to ask you to leave, please. We're in the middle of a conversation," she said.

The boy laughed and stood up straight. "I was wrong guys! She's not a cop, she's just a brace-kid in costume!" he said. All three of them laughed.

Jill shook her head. "You're right, it's just a costume," she said.

The boy snickered and looked down at Claire again. "So Red, why didn't you show up at class today? We all missed you so much! I mean, I just got new gloves I wanted to show you," he said. He held up a fist, showing leather gloves with padded knuckles, and put his hand in front of Claire's face. "See? Haven't even tried them out yet!" he said.

Jill stood up and looked at the boy. He was about a foot and a half taller than her, but she wasn't intimidated. "Look, either you leave now or get arrested for harassment," she said.

The boy's smile disappeared. He looked pissed off, and Jill loved it. "Listen bitch, we ain't talking to you so sit down before I make you," he said.

Claire started standing, but the boy grabbed her shoulder and shoved her back into the seat. "You sit down, we're not done with you," he said.

Jill grabbed his arm, flipped him around, slammed his head on the table, and held him there in an arm-lock. "Look buddy, you're done here in general. Now this is your LAST warning...leave now, or be forced to leave," she said.

The boy struggled, but winced. If he moved, it hurt his arm even more. "You've got nothing on me, bitch," he said.

Jill pulled his arm a bit more. "Let's see...Public disturbance, harassment, physical threats, and refusing to leave when asked to leave by an officer," she said. "Seems like enough, no?"

The boy turned his head and glared at her. "I'll fucking kill you!" he said, his anger mostly enhanced because his friends were just standing there doing nothing.

Jill grinned. "Is that a threat?"

He blinked. "N...no! Fine, we'll go, but this isn't over!" he said, and Jill let him go. He hit his friends' arms and they turned to walk out of the Diner.


	5. Back To Work

Chris walked back inside, bumping into the boy in a leather jacket, who glared at him and left. Chris watched him, confused, and walked towards the booth.

He saw Jill standing there, and Claire sinking into the bench. "What happened?" he asked.

Jill shook her head and sat down. "Bunch of morons, that's what. They were starting a scene, but I took care of it," she said.

Chris sat down next to Claire and sighed. "Man, wish I'd seen it," he said. He looked over to his sister, who still looked terrified of something, then looked back to Jill. "What kind of scene?" he asked.

Jill looked at Claire, who shook her head. "Oh, just the usual crap kids make scenes for. It's like they want everyone to bend over and take their bullshit," she said.

Chris laughed. "That's a really weird way of putting something," he said.

"Well, you know what I mean," Jill said. "Anyways, where did Barry go?"

Claire sat up straight and pulled the milkshake in front of her. She took the straw and began stirring the shake endlessly. Chris looked over to her, and back to Jill. "He had stuff to take care of at home, so he apologizes for not joining us but says he wants to make up for it by having a target practice with you tomorrow," he said.

Jill blinked. "With me?" she asked. "Why?"

"Barry likes getting to know everyone, and he likes to shoot. He figures you bond better when you mix the two," said Chris. He looked over to Claire again. "Not hungry?" he asked.

Claire looked up. "Why would you think that?" she asked.

Chris shrugged. "Well your burger's not even halfway done, which is pretty weird for you. You're not even drinking the shake," he said.

"Yeah...not hungry," Claire said, looking back down in her shake.

Jill sighed. "Say Chris, what do you usually do after your coffee? Random stakeouts?" she asked.

Chris nodded. "Yep, I just drive around until something happens, or until I get a call. Looks like there's three of us today, though," he said.

"I wanna go home," Claire said.

Chris looked at her. "You're not going home, so deal with it. You have your choices, either go back to school or stay with me, but home isn't an option," he said.

Claire sighed, and pushed the milkshake back. A waitress walked over and put a slice of cake in front of Jill.

"I didn't order this," Jill said.

The waitress smiled. "Emmy sends it, as a thank you for getting rid of those guys," she said. She walked back to the counter, where Emmy was standing. Jill looked over and waved, then looked back to Chris. "Wow, they really are nice here," she said. "I guess those guys cause trouble a lot."

Chris nodded. "I've seen that kid before, he's Mike Landers. He's always getting himself caught up in bad stuff. It's weird to see him out now, though...he doesn't usually cut classes," he said.

"It's lunch time," Claire said.

"Right...then maybe you can get to your afternoon classes, huh?" Chris said, smiling slightly.

Claire sighed. "Fine, I'll go, but only because I don't wanna hang out with you all day," she said.

Chris frowned, which made Jill feel a little bad. Something was bugging Claire, and she wouldn't talk about it, so even if she knew she couldn't tell Chris. She finished off the piece of cake, and looked up at them both. "Well then, shall we?" she asked.

Chris nodded and got out of the booth, then headed to the counter to pay for the shake and burger. Jill got up as well, and looked at Claire. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.

Claire nodded, grabbed her backpack, and got out of the booth. "If I don't go to school, he won't get off my case," she said.

"What about that guy Landers?" Jill asked. "Think he'll try picking on you again?"

Claire glared up at her. "I can take care of myself, thanks. And I doubt he'll try anything after what you did to him," she said.

Jill felt confused. Claire looked and sounded pissed off, but her words were so positive. Was she angry or grateful? "Well, I'm sure if you change your mind your brother will let you stay with us for the day," she said.

Claire threw her backpack over her shoulder and walked towards the door. Jill watched her go, waited for Chris, and they both headed outside to meet up with her. When they got outside, Claire was already starting down the sidewalk, looking down.  
"Hang on a second, where are you going?" Chris called out.

"School," Claire said, as if stating the obvious.

"I'll drive you," he said. He really didn't like the idea of her going off on her own, even if she knew the city well.

"I'd rather walk," she said, and kept going.

Jill looked at Chris. "Is her school far?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "It's just a few blocks away, but still..." he said.

Jill nudged his arm. "She'll be fine, Chris; it's the middle of the day. Come on, it'd be cool if you could show me around town," she said, trying to distract him.

Chris watched Claire walk around the block and sighed. "Yeah, alright, let's go," he said.

They walked back to the cruiser and got in. Chris turned the keys in the ignition, and they started down the main road. With horrible timing, the car phone went off. Chris hit the speaker button, and spoke clearly. "Redfield," he said.

"I know it's you, Redfield, I called your phone for a reason! Is Valentine with you?" asked the obnoxious voice of Chief Irons.

"Yes sir," Chris said, rolling his eyes.

"Good! Get your asses back to the station, I've got a bunch of paperwork to be done and no time to do it!" said Irons.

"You want us to do your paperwork for you...because you don't have the time?" asked Chris.

"Yes, now get over here ASAP, both of you!" Irons said right before hanging up.

"Dictionary defines 'bitch' with 'see Police Chief'," said Jill.  
Chris laughed. "That's a good one! Remember it when we meet up with Barry later...you'll become his new best friend!" he said.

Jill smiled. "Well, so much for my tour of the city," she said.

Chris nodded. "He has bad timing like that. But hey, maybe I can give you a tour of the station?" he suggested.

"Sure, that'd be cool too," Jill said.

Chris turned onto the street leading to the station, and parked the car in the lot. Conveniently, the station was only a few blocks away from the Diner. He stopped the car and sighed, getting out.

Jill got out as well and looked over to him. "So, Chris, about your sister..." she said.

Chris looked up instantly. "What about her?" he asked.

"Does she have a lot of friends? At school, I mean?" she asked.

Chris shrugged. "She's never brought anyone over, but I don't know exactly what's going on with her at all. I've tried asking her stuff about school, but she never really talks to me anymore," he said.

"I'm sure with time, you two will be closer than anything," Jill said, hoping to be reassuring.

Chris nodded. "I hope so," he said. He looked to the station and sighed. "Alright then, let's go do the Chief's work," he said, and started towards the building.

Before they even reached the door, Chief Irons stormed out. He looked at them and glared. "Sure took your sweet time getting here, Redfield!" he said.

Chris sighed. "Yeah, it's my fault. I'm the one who lowered the speed limit, just so I could take longer to get here," he said.

Jill laughed, but Irons glared in her direction and she stopped. "Don't you dare start thinking like this guy, Valentine, or it's your ass on the line!" he barked.

"Is it logically possible for two people to think alike?" she asked to Chris.

"Stop that!" Irons yelled. He turned and headed back in the building. "Get your asses in here!" he said.

Chris held his hand out towards the building. "Ladies first, Valentine," he said, grinning.

"Gee, thanks...Christopher," Jill said as she walked up the steps to the station. Chris followed, laughing. Putting up with Irons was a job harder than being an officer in Raccoon; but if his new partner was as quick with the comebacks as he was, his job had just gotten that much easier.


	6. Big Sister Valentine

Jill sat at her desk, sighing. Chief Irons had given them both tons of paperwork, taking away her chance of getting to know the building, along with her partner. He'd been at the other end of the office all day, buried in his own work, and they never even had the chance to talk. After only a few hours, Chris had walked over to her desk and offered to help. He'd finished his part quickly, saying he was used to it. Of course, Jill foolishly declined his offer and suggested that he'd go out and find Barry, and that she could catch up later. He'd seemed uncomfortable with it, but Jill insisted that he'd go have fun before Irons found more work. "We can't both be stuck here all day," she had told him. He'd agreed and left a cell phone number for her to contact once she finished.

So now Jill sat alone in the office, with still only half of the work done. She knew what to do, but couldn't be motivated to do it. She stared down at the paper, zoned out, when the door swung open and caused her to jump in her chair. She turned and looked at the receptionist, and took in a deep breath. "You scared me," she said.

"I'm sorry...there's a young girl on the phone asking for you," said the receptionist.

Jill blinked. "But I don't know anyone in this city...Did she leave a name?" she asked.

The receptionist shook her head. "She wouldn't tell me, but she specifically asked for you," she said.

Jill nodded and looked at the phone. The only line that was busy was the first one, so she pressed the button and picked up the receiver. "Thanks," she said to the receptionist, who then left the office room.

"This is Valentine," Jill said in the phone.

"Hey, it's me," said the girl.

Jill paused for a bit, mentally trying to link the voice with a familiar face. "Who is this?" she asked.

There was a sigh on the other end. "Shit, I knew it...you don't even remember-"

"Claire?" Jill asked, needing only the hint of crudeness to remind her of where she'd heard the voice. "Why are you calling me? Wouldn't you rather speak with your brother?" she asked.

"I need you to come meet me outside," Claire said, sounding urgent.

"Outside...you mean outside the station?" Jill asked.

"Yeah, I'm on the stairs right outside the front door," Claire said.

"But I can't right now, I have to finish this paperwork or the Chief's probably going to hang me," she said. "Why don't you come inside? I'm sure they won't mind since your brother works here."

"I can't, I just really need you to come outside. Please?" now Claire's tone sounded like she was about to break into tears. Jill sighed. _How could I say no to that?_ She thought.

"Alright, I'll be right there. The stairs by the front door you say? Right, I'll see you there," she said, and put the receiver down. She looked at her papers and shook her head, then stood and left the office.

She headed down the hall and out the door leading to another hall. _Man, what is it with this building and halls?_ She thought. She walked through another door and into the main lobby. When the door closed behind her, the receptionist looked up. Jill nodded to her then headed for the main door. "If the Chief is looking for me, please let him know I stepped out for just a few minutes," she said.

The receptionist nodded. "I think you'll be fine," she said with a smile.

Jill smiled back and opened the front doors, looking around outside. She'd seen the parking behind the gates, which were always opened from what she'd seen. Also, she'd seen the park when they walked through it...but she hadn't noticed the stairs. They were right next to the doors, and seemed to come back out near the gate. Jill started down the stairs, trying to figure out what they were even there for. She went down slowly, examining the walls. No secret doors or hidden switches; these were just regular useless stairs. It was like a staircase leading under a bridge, with another staircase on the other side.

Jill got to the bottom and saw Claire sitting on the floor between the two staircases, with her arms folded over her stomach. She walked over to the girl, and as she got closer she saw why Claire had sounded so anxious, and ran over to her.

"What happened!" she asked, kneeling next to her. Claire's jeans were torn at the knees, worse than this morning, and her clothes were all dirty. Her arms were bruised and scraped, but the most horrific thing was the giant bruise covering her cheek and the blood at the corners of her mouth. Jill saw it when Claire looked up at her, looking both hurt and pissed off. "Jesus Christ, you look like a zombie!"

"That guy from the Diner? Yeah, he's still pretty mad at you," Claire said.

Jill felt a sudden wave of guilt. "He did this! What the hell is wrong with this city!" she said. She looked around, having no idea how to deal with this. "I ought 'a go down to your school and kick his ass!" she said.

Claire shook her head. "School's over; he did it after the last bell," she said. "Hey, next time you rough him up, maybe you can mention how I don't know you. He thinks we're friends and sends his regards."

Jill frowned. The guilt just kept building up with this kid. "I know, it's my fault...but why did you call for me? Why not ask for Chris?" she asked.

"Are you kidding? He'd make everything worst!" Claire said. She looked up at Jill, wincing. "That's why I asked for you."

Jill felt even worse just watching her. "Well come inside, I need to get you some ice," she said.

Claire shook her head again. "Are you even listening? I really don't want him knowing about this stuff," she said.

"He's not here; he finished early and went out with Barry. Is this why you were skipping school?" Jill asked, holding her hands out.

Claire took her hands and pulled herself up slowly, feeling the pain enhance in her sides with every movement. "Yeah, he does this all the time. It's like he knows who gets hurt easily and targets them," she said.

Jill walked close to Claire, keeping an eye on her. She limped on one leg, and Jill couldn't tell if it was hurting or if she limped due to the obvious pain in her sides. She stopped and knelt down. "Hop on," she said.

"No way," Claire said.

"Hop on or I'm calling Chris," Jill said, grinning. She heard Claire curse as she got, and started up the stairs trying not to laugh. She now knew Claire's weakness.

"Can you teach me to fight?" asked Claire.

Jill blinked. "And why would I do that?" she asked.

"'Cause you're a cop and you know basic self-defence, right?" Claire said.

Jill nodded as she reached the top of the stairs and set Claire down. "I know a lot more than the basics, but I don't think I should be teaching you to fight...it's not my place," she said.

"You're the only one! Chris would never do it!" Claire said.

"Maybe he has good reasons?" Jill suggested, but couldn't help feeling bad for Claire. After being nearly crippled by boys at school, and for no apparent reason, she was still standing. Jill knew she'd probably regret it and sighed. "Alright, but nothing too violent..." she said.

Claire tried smiling but her cheek hurt. "Thanks," she said.

"But you're in no condition to learn anything now, so we're starting off with light reading," she said.

"What do you mean by reading?" Claire asked. She followed Jill through the station's courtyard and out to the street. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Jill walked over to a Jeep parked on the side of the road. "First, you're going to get cleaned up. Then, we're hitting the bookstore. I'd go alone but have no idea where it is," she said.

Claire looked at her, entirely un-amused. "Why are we going to a bookstore? What the hell can I learn there?" she asked.

Jill grinned and got into the driver's seat. "They have books on self-defence, you know," she said.

Claire got into the passenger's seat, tossing her backpack at her feet. "So you're planning on making me read instead of actually teaching me anything?" she asked.

"For now, until your bruises heal up," Jill said, starting the Jeep.

"They're fine now, so just teach me what OW!" Claire yelled as Jill poked her in the ribs.

"Yep, definitely fine now," she said sarcastically. "Just trust me on this, alright?"

Claire held her side and nodded. Jill smiled and drove down the road, heading for her small apartment. "So, first thing we need to do is get you out of those clothes," she said. She heard Claire gasp and turned to see the most terrified look on her face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I, um, think I should get out of the car," Claire said.

Jill realized what she'd said and burst out laughing. "Oh, dear!" she said, "I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that you should get clothes that aren't torn up!"

Claire looked down at her clothes. "Ah shit, they ripped my jeans! I love these jeans!" she said.

"Also, your arms and face are all dirty and bloody...not the best look for a bookstore," Jill said.

"I guess not," Claire said. She held her arms up slowly, wincing. "I didn't even notice how bad these were," she added.

Jill parked the Jeep on the street between two other cars, and pulled out her key. "Why don't you tell anyone about those guys?" she asked.

Claire sighed. "Those guys have their own rules. One kid complained to a teacher about Landers once, and that same kid was in the hospital the next day, nearly in a coma. He claimed Landers had nothing to do with it," she said.

Jill blinked. "That kid sounds like he needs to be locked up! They couldn't prove anything?" she asked.

"They never investigated. The kid said it wasn't him, so they let him go. That's why I don't want Chris to get involved," Claire said.

"You think he'll make things worse for you, even though he's a cop?" Jill asked.

"Especially since he's a cop...Mike Landers really hates cops," said Claire. "Chris wouldn't even ask questions, he'd just go down to the school and start something."

Jill sighed and got out of the car. Claire grabbed her backpack and did the same, following her up the steps to the apartment. Once inside, Jill headed for the stairs but paused and looked back to Claire. "Maybe we should take the elevator," she said. She walked over to it and hit the button, then looked at Claire again. "I think I have some extra clothes that would fit you," she said.

"Sure," Claire said.

"Ooh, I have this one black mini that goes really well with a blue-"  
"I'm not wearing a skirt," Claire interrupted.

Jill grinned. "Got it, no skirts," she said.

Claire stepped into the elevator as soon as the door opened. Behind them an older man in sunglasses also got on, smiling at Jill. "Hello, Miss Valentine," he said.

Jill smiled back. "Hi," she said. The landlord was the only person she knew in the building, and apart from his ridiculously gelled back blonde hair, he seemed like a nice man.

Claire looked up at Jill. "So, Jill Valentine, huh?" she asked. Jill nodded. "That sounds like a stripper's name," Claire added.

"Hey!" Jill said, glaring at her. "You know, I'm trying to help you, and I've gotten nothing but attitude. If you want to learn anything from me, I'd appreciate some respect," she said.

Claire grinned. "I was just kidding, gees."

Jill sighed. "Fine, I'll agree with you on the name thing," she said.

The man smiled. "I think it's a pretty name," he said.

"Hide your children!" Claire said.

The elevator door opened and Jill grabbed Claire by the backpack, pulling her out with her. "Have a good day, sir!" she said. The door closed, and she glared down at Claire. "What the hell is wrong with you!" she asked.

Claire shrugged. "He looks like a pedophile! It seemed like an appropriate comment," she said.

"No. No comments coming from you EVER seem appropriate! Man, I ought 'a call Chris right now and ask him to come get you!" Jill said, storming off towards her door.

Claire looked at her, and followed as fast as she could. "Please don't! I'm sorry, I won't say anything anymore!" she said.

Jill unlocked her door, grinning. "Well, okay...but one more comment like that and I'm calling him," she said. She walked inside the apartment, realizing she'd left Chris' cell-phone number on her desk._ Hope she doesn't find out,_ she thought.

Claire followed her inside and looked around. There were unpacked boxes, piles of books, and a huge couch in the middle of the room. "Wow, sure got a lot of crap here," she said.

"I'm still moving in, give me a break," Jill said. "Now, go in the room there and pick something that fits you from the closet."

Claire nodded and headed in the room, while Jill went to the fridge. She pulled out a jug of juice, along with two cups from the cupboard. She put them on the counter and sighed. _What the hell did I get myself into..._ she thought, as she poured the juice into the cups.


	7. Go Read a Book!

Jill stepped into the bookstore, followed by Claire, and looked around. It looked much smaller from the outside, so she had no doubt they'd find what they came for. She looked over to Claire, who looked spaced out. "How about you go look around while I ask where to find that book," she suggested.

Claire nodded and walked away, holding her side. She limped down a set of stairs and headed for the Teen Fiction section. There was a large table with several copies of the same book. Intrigued, Claire walked over and picked up one of the books. She jumped when her phone vibrated in her pocket, and pulled it out. "Hello?" she asked.

"Where are you?"

"...Chris?" Claire blinked.

"Don't play dumb, where are you? I've been waiting outside your school for over an hour, and you're not here," Chris said.

Claire bit her bottom lip and looked around. "I'm, uh, at a bookstore with Jill."

Chris paused. "With Jill?" he asked. "Why?"

"We're just hanging out. I wanted to get to know your friends," she said.

"Nice try, but you hate my friends. Put Jill on the phone," Chris said.

Claire looked around again. "Well she's not here now, she went to find something," she said. She flipped the book around and read the back.

"I'm sure she did...Claire, how about you stop lying and tell me where you really are," Chris said sternly.

"I'm not lying! I'm at the bookstore, looking at a book as we speak! And, this book looks TERRIBLE!" she said, tossing it back down on the table.

Chris sighed. "Which bookstore?" he asked.

"Oh no, I'm not telling you that or you'll come here and make a scene!" Claire said.

"You're damn right I will! Get Jill to call my cell within the next half hour to tell me you're not lying, or you're screwed," Chris said, and hung up.

Claire looked down at her phone and sighed. "Such a jerk," she said.

"Hey! You!" said a random girl, whom Claire hadn't noticed was standing next to her.

"What do you want?" Claire asked.

The girl picked up the copy of the book that Claire had tossed on the table. "Did I hear you talk shit about Twilight?" she asked, hand on her hip.

Behind the girl Claire saw four others, with the same pissed off look on their faces. She looked back to the one holding the book and shrugged. "I said it was terrible, why?" she asked.

"I see...and have you read this book?" the girl asked. Claire shook her head. The girl grinned, though somehow still seemed pissed off. "Well maybe you should read it before deciding it's a bad book!" she said, handing the copy over to her.

Claire looked at it and grinned. "Are you saying you had to read the whole thing before YOU realized it was shit?" she asked.

The girl glared at her, and took a step forward. "You think you're tough, don't you...Oh, I know who you are! You're that loser from my brother's school, aren't you? I bet he's the one who beat the shit out of you," she said, proudly.

Claire blinked. "You're Landers' sister?" she asked.

The girl grinned again. "Look girls, I think she's getting scared! Better not hurt her though, wouldn't want her brother to throw us in a police car," she said. Her friends laughed.

Claire laughed as well. "You're safe, police cars require a certain amount of IQ for the back seat," she said.

The girl stopped laughing and pushed Claire to the floor. "If I were you, I'd keep my mouth shut," she said.

Claire stood back up, holding her side. "Look, I'm already messed up as it is thanks to your stupid brother, so can we just not do this?" she asked.

The girl grinned. "If that's begging, you can do better," she said, pushing her back down. All five of the girls started laughing.

* * *

Jill found the book she'd been looking for, and smiled. She walked out of the aisle and stopped, spotting the confrontation across the bookstore. Claire was getting up slowly, and five other girls stood there laughing. "What the hell did I miss now..." she said to herself. She started walking towards them, but stopped halfway. Maybe if she watched for a bit, she could see what Claire already knew in terms of self-defense and what needed improvement.

"So you have two choices; read the book, or keep pissing me off," the girl said to Claire.

"I'm pissing you off by refusing to read a book? That's stupid," Claire said.

The girl took a step forward, and Jill saw Claire flinch. _Well at least I know she didn't start it,_ Jill thought.

Claire was pushed back again, but caught herself on the table. She grabbed one of the books and opened it at a random page. "Fine, here," Claire said, reading out-loud directly from the page. "And then Edward stepped out from the trees, his skin faintly glowing, his eyes..." Claire stopped in mid-sentence, closed the book, and smacked it hard against the side of the girl's face.

The girl held her face, swearing, then sent a solid punch into Claire's gut. She doubled over, holding her stomach, and Jill decided it was time to end it. She ran over to them and grabbed the girl by the collar of her shirt just before she sent out a kick. She pulled her away from Claire and stepped between them. "That's enough," she said.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" the girl shouted at Claire, trying to get past Jill.

Jill stood her ground well, pushing the girl back. "I'm warning you, get out of here," she said, putting her hand on her can of tear gas. People in the store watched, wondering what would happen next.

The girl looked down and blinked, taking a step back. She turned and walked out of the store, followed by her four confused friends. Jill turned and kneeled in front of Claire. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Claire held her stomach in pain, looking down. She nodded, but Jill could see tears falling on the floor. She sighed and put her hand on Claire's shoulder. "Come on, I'll take you home," she said.

Claire shook her head, and looked up. "Call Chris..." she said.

"I thought you didn't want him to know," Jill said.

"No, but he wants you to call him," Claire's voice sounded rough.

Jill sighed. _Poor kid,_ she thought. "Honestly, I don't have his number," she said.

Claire turned to sit, then reached in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Jill took it and went down the contacts list, frowning. There was 'Barry, Chris, Emmy's, Home, and RPD.' Claire really needed friends. She quickly went to 'Add new contact' and punched in her name, followed by her number. She smiled and went back to the list to get Chris' number, and called it.

"Hello?" Chris said in the phone.

"Hey Chris, you wanted me to call you?" Jill asked.

Chris paused for a bit. "Yeah...so you actually are with Claire?" he asked.

"Yeah, she didn't believe me that a certain book came out, so I brought her down to the store to show her. I'm sorry, I should have called," she said.

"No, it's okay! What are you two doing after?" asked Chris.

Jill thought a bit. "Well, I was thinking we'd leave the store and grab something to eat, get to bond a bit?" she said. "Just the two of us," she quickly added.

"Sounds good, just don't bring her home too late. Oh, can I talk to her? I really should apologize," Chris said.

Jill looked down at Claire, and sighed. "She's really into this book, Chris...I'll tell her if you want," she lied.

"...She's reading a book willingly?" Chris sounded entirely confused.

"Bye, Chris," Jill laughed, hanging up the phone. She handed it back to Claire, and stood up. "Are you okay to walk?" she asked.

Claire got up as well, and nodded. "It's fine, let's go," she said.

Jill picked up a copy of Twilight and looked at it. "I could buy this for you if you'd like," she offered.

Claire looked at her. "Why the hell would I want that!" she asked.

Jill grinned. "Don't know...thought you might want to learn to shoot a gun," she said.

Claire grinned back, already feeling better. "Yes please!" she said.

Jill laughed and headed for the cash counter with the two books. Claire followed close behind, still holding her stomach, thinking only that once she knew enough, she'd give Landers a reason to hate her.


	8. Friends

The next day, Jill sat at her desk, finishing up the paperwork from the day before. She'd gone patrolling with Chris earlier, but there was literally nothing going on in Raccoon City. He'd offered to buy lunch at the Diner with Barry, but she'd insisted on getting back to the office to finish the work.

The door opened suddenly, causing her to jump. She looked up and saw Forest Speyer, another one of RPD's younger officers, walking in with a smile on his face. "Well well, look who's here! Shouldn't you be out on patrol with Chris?" he asked, sitting at his desk.

Jill grinned. "I had some catching up to do, so he went on ahead," she said.

Forest laughed. "Oh yeah, I heard you skipped out on your first day. Irons' pissed, right?" he asked.

Jill sighed, and piled up her papers. "I didn't skip out; I had something important to take care of. And about that, I need a favour from you," she said. It was only her second day, but she'd already talked with him for hours the day before and got to know him well. She knew she could trust him.

"Well, sure! What is it?" Forest asked, smiling.

"Well, I'll be in the gym downstairs all day, and was wondering if you could make sure Chris doesn't come to the station. At all," she said.

Forest raised a brow. "Don't want him seeing you all sweaty, huh?" he asked, grinning.

"That's not it, I'm giving his sister some pointers in self-defence, and she doesn't want him to know about it," Jill said. Though she really didn't want Chris seeing her working out, it'd be sort of awkward.

Forest was intrigued. "Why wouldn't she want him to know?" he asked.

Jill looked aside. "Well, it's complicated, but I guess he just wouldn't approve. Come on, will you help us out?" she asked.

He nodded. "Count me in! I'll just tell him I miss hanging out with my old buddy, and he'll be hooked! I think he really digs me," Forest joked.

Jill laughed and watched him wave as he left. She sighed in relief, and looked up at the clock. She'd told Claire that she would pick her up from school at three, which was in an hour. She thought it might be best to head out early, since she still had no idea where anything was in this town. She had basic directions, but didn't want to keep Claire waiting if she got lost.

She put everything into neat piles on her desk, and headed for the door. When she opened the door, Chris was there. She jumped back, glaring at him. "Why does everyone always do that!" she asked.

"Do what?" Chris asked, confused.

"Scare the shit out of me with this stupid door! Man, it's like you've all been planning it," she said.

Chris walked into the office, shrugging. "Maybe you're just too jumpy. Heading out?" he asked.

Jill froze. "Um, yeah...I finished my work, so I thought I'd head home for a bit," she lied.

"Are you hungry? I was planning on picking Claire up from school, and we could all go grab a bite if you're up for it?" Chris offered.

_Aw shit,_ Jill thought. "No thanks, I had a sandwich not too long ago," she said, trying to think of her next move.

As though he could read minds, Forest walked into the office and smiled at them both. "Hey guys! Looks like we're all done today, huh? Let's go do something!" he said.

Jill smiled, relieved. "No thanks, Forest," she said.

He turned his attention to Chris. "What about you, Redfield? Couple 'a guys hitting up the town, get some burgers or something? It's been a long time since we had burgers," he said.

Chris grinned. "That's true, but I have to get Claire from school," he said. "We could take her with us?"

Forest sighed. "I was kind of hoping it'd be just us dudes, like the good old times," he said.

Chris frowned, but Jill smiled. "You guys ago ahead, I can pick Claire up," she said, "and don't worry Chris. I can make sure she gets fed."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked.

Jill nodded. "It'll be fun, go ahead!" she said.

Forest grabbed Chris' arm and pulled him out of the office. "Thanks Jill!" he called out as they headed down the hallway.

Jill poked her head out of the office. "No, thank YOU Forest," she said in a low voice. She grinned and headed down the other side of the hallway. She could take the back door and walked around the building to get to her car.

* * *

Jill looked at her watch, and sighed. It seemed like all of the kids had left the school already, but she hadn't seen Claire anywhere. She'd been waiting long before the bell, just to be sure, but the girl hadn't come out of the building. Jill took off her seat-belt and got out of the car, worried. She looked around, and spotted a teacher getting into his car. She walked over, sighing. "Excuse me, sir!" she called out.

The teacher looked over to her, and grinned. "Why are you wearing that uniform?" he asked.

Jill sighed, ignoring his condescending tone. "Well, I'm looking for one of the students but I haven't seen her come out of the school. Do you know a Claire Redfield?" she asked.

The teacher put his bag in his car and looked back to her, disappointed. "Redfield? Yes, I do. I'm her homeroom teacher, and she hasn't shown up for class in nearly a week. I can't say I'm surprised that the cops are looking for her," he said.

Jill blinked. "No, it's not like that. I'm a friend of hers, just here to pick her up. And what do you mean, you wouldn't be surprised? Did she do anything?" she asked.

The man shook his head. "I mean that after losing both parents, a child can easily get confused and take on some bad habits. You know, making the wrong friends and taking the wrong decisions?" he asked.

"Are you implying that Claire's skipping school to go ruin her life somewhere in a ditch?" Jill asked, glaring.

The man grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised, the quiet ones usually drop out first," he said.

Jill stepped forward and smacked her hand into his cheek. He yelled and backed up into his car.

"Maybe your students wouldn't drop out of school if you showed a bit more trust and care into their lives! Also, I don't know if you bastards even know, but you have major fighting problems at this school. You all have to be completely blind, or just stupid," she said.

He held his hand to his cheek, blinking in disbelief. "Are you mad! Police officers can't hit innocent civilians! I'm reporting you!" he said.

Jill sighed and turned around, taking off her police-beret. "I'm off duty, I can hit whoever I want," she said. She got back into her car, and watched the shaky teacher get into his car and drive off in anger. She grinned and waved to him as he drove by her Jeep. He glared and drove faster until his car was completely out of sight. Jill laughed, and looked back to the school building. "Where the hell are you, Claire?" she asked. She pulled out her cell phone, went down the contacts list until she found Claire's name, and pressed the send button. The phone rang, and she looked at the building again, sighing.

"Hello?" asked the small voice.

"Hello miss Redfield, this is the police. I've been informed by your teacher that you haven't been in class for about a week. Anything you'd like to say on your behalf?" she asked, grinning.

"...Jill?" asked Claire.

Jill sighed. "Yes, Claire, it's me. Not too sharp, are you? Why did you ask me to pick you up if you weren't even planning on being here? Where are you?" she asked.

Claire was quiet for a minute then sighed. "I'm at the station, I thought I'd catch you before you left but you weren't here," she said.

Jill blinked. "You're...at the station? Where exactly? Your brother was still there when I left, and if he sees you he'll be asking me all kinds of-"

"He's not here."

Claire's tone seemed almost like she was distracted. Jill shook her head and started the Jeep. "Well, I'll be there in a few minutes, so don't go wandering around and get yourself in trouble," she said. She heard Claire sigh and grinned.

"Please, I'm not some little kid who gets a kick out of exploring police stations. This place is lame anyways, and it smells old. Besides, I've got company so I'm fine until you get here, bye!" she said.

"Hey, wait what?" Jill asked, but it was too late; Claire had already hung up. She put the phone away and drove down the road, confused. Who the hell was with Claire? Anyone but Forest would've kicked her out, especially Irons. This was all too weird.

After some minor speeding, Jill finally pulled into the lot at the station. She got out of her car and walked into the building, looking around. She saw the receptionist sitting at her desk reading a book, and walked over. "Hey, have you seen a little girl around?" she asked.

The receptionist looked up and smiled. "Oh, the _darling_ girl who sat here for ten minutes, awkwardly staring at me to distract me from my book? Yes, she was here," she said. Claire certainly had a strange effect on people.

"Well can you tell me where she went?" Jill asked.

The receptionist shrugged and returned to her book. "She went off with that new co-op student. They went that way," she said, pointing to the door to her right.

"Great, somewhere in the office wing...that'll narrow down my search," Jill said, opening the door and walking down the hall. She sighed, not knowing which office to check first; there were so many! She walked over to the third one, which was where her desk, along with Chris', Forest's, and a few others were. She opened the door and looked inside, but it was empty. Jill sighed again and continued down the hallway. She heard a laugh, and followed the sound to the break-room. She opened the door and there was Claire, sitting next to a young boy and talking. He was laughing, and she was grinning.

Jill walked into the office and closed the door hard, making her presence known. She folded her arms and cleared her throat as the two turned and looked at her.

"Busted," said Claire.

The boy blushed and looked at stood up, scratching his head. He was taller than Jill, with blonde hair hanging in front of his face, and a pretty-boy face. He didn't look much younger than she was, but definitely older than Claire.

"I'm sorry, am I _interrupting _anything?" Jill asked, trying not to smile.

The boy shook his head. "I'm sorry, we were just talking! My name's Leon, I'm here to fill a co-op with my school," he said.

Jill could barely hold back a grin. He looked terrified! She could remember to use that to her advantage. "Just talking, huh?" she asked suspiciously.

Claire stood up as well, looking to Jill. "It's true!" she said.

"Do you think Chris would agree?"

Claire froze. Her expression was more than enough to send Jill into a laughing fit. Leon seemed to relax a bit, and Claire's panic instantly turned to aggravation. Jill noticed, and laughed even more. "It's not funny," Claire said, annoyed.

Leon scratched his head again. He was a bit relieved that Jill wasn't angry, but still felt really awkward.

Jill finally stopped laughing and looked at Claire. "So, are you ready to hit the gym? Or are you still hurting?" she asked.

Claire shook her head. "I think I'll skip it today, my stomach still hurts," she said.

Leon looked at her. "You're hurt? What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," Claire said. She looked back to Jill and sighed. "Tomorrow, after school?" she asked.

Jill grinned and raised a brow. "Why not in the morning, since I know you won't be going to school?" she said. Claire looked down, which made her laugh again. "Look, I know you think missing school is a good idea, but you'll fall behind in your classes, and your teachers are starting to think you're turning into a gutter-rat," she said.

Claire's head snapped up almost instantly. "What? Which teachers!" she asked, insulted.

"No idea, skinny dude with suspenders, glasses, and clearly-fake hair."

Claire glared at nothing in particular. "We call him Homeroom-Horror...Nobody ever wants him as a teacher, 'cause he's a jerk," she said.

"I've noticed as much. Okay, so what do you feel like doing if we're skipping the training? Are you hungry?" she asked. She noticed Leon and Claire exchange a look, and quickly shook her head. "No," she said.

"What?" Claire asked.

"Let me guess...Leon asked you if you wanted to get something to eat before I got here, right?" Jill asked.

Leon looked away, and Claire nodded. "Well, yeah..." she said, her voice almost strained.

"No. Sorry, that's one thing I can't let you do before you check with Chris."

Claire glared at Jill. "I don't need Chris' permission to eat," she said.

Leon was entirely confused, and could see a fight starting up. He looked at Jill and nervously took a step forward. "Why don't we all go?" he asked. The two girls exchanged a look for a few seconds, and Jill finally nodded.

"Good idea, kid," she said.

"Whatever," Claire turned and grabbed her backpack. "At least this way, we have a ride."

Leon sighed, glad it was over with. "So, where can one get good cheeseburgers in this town?" he asked.

Claire threw her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door, stopping next to Jill. "Emmy's, it's the best Diner around," she said, and walked out of the room.

Jill held the door opened and looked at Leon. He was smiling, but that changed as soon as she glared at him. _Just wait 'til you meet Chris, _she thought, and couldn't help but snicker at the mental image she got; Chris would flip, and probably break a wall as though he were on some kind of steroids-rage.

* * *

There weren't a lot of people at the diner, so they sat at their usual booth. Emmy had given them each a free round of milkshakes while they decided on their order.

"Well, I already know I want a cheeseburger," Claire said after sipping her milkshake.

Leon looked to her and grinned. "I take it you come here often," he said. Claire nodded and sipped the milkshake again, which made Leon smile.

Jill noticed and sighed. "You know, Chris is going to kill you when he hears about you," she said. "I've only known him for two days and I know he'll freak."

Claire sighed. "It's true, he would...but there's nothing to freak out about, he's just obsessively over-protective," she said.

Leon's smile faded away. Claire had told him a bit about her older brother, and from what she'd said he imagined a giant angry man with huge biceps, and the body of a pro-wrestler. "So, he's really that bad?" he asked. He was confused when Jill shook her head, but Claire nodded. This Chris was definitely not someone he wanted to mess with, it seemed.

Jill looked up and grinned. "Well, speak of the devil!" she said. Claire turned and saw Chris walking in with one of his police buddies. He looked around the room and spotted them, then headed over. She turned back and sank in the seat. "Game over, man!" she said, grinning. This made Leon panic.

Chris walked over to their booth and smiled. "Well, looks like our timing wasn't so bad!" he said.

Jill nodded. "We just got here, so you guys can join us!" she said. She caught a confused look from Forest, and gave him an 'I'll explain later' smile. He nodded, and sat down next to her in the booth.

Chris looked over to Leon, raising a brow. "Who's this?" he asked.

Leon slid out of the seat and stood up straight, holding his hand out. "Hello, I'm Leon S. Kennedy! I'm doing a co-op at the station, sir," he said.

"Chris," he grinned as he shook the boy's hand.

"A co-op student, huh?" asked Forest, looking at Jill. She nodded, sipping her milkshake, and Chris slid in the booth to sit between Claire and Leon. He looked at his sister suspiciously, but she simply looked away. He sighed, sliding her milkshake over and taking a sip.

"Hey! Get your own!" she complained, pulling the glass back in front of herself.

"Relax, I just wanted a sip. I'll get you a new one, okay?" he said, glaring. As though on cue, the waitress walked over with a tray of milkshakes, put one down in front of everybody, except Jill and Leon whose shakes were still full, and smiled saying "On the house." She took their orders and moved along to the next table.

"So, Leon, how long have you been in town?" asked Chris, looking in his direction.

Leon looked aside nervously. "Well sir, I just got here today actually. My dad was a cop in Boston, but he retired and decided to move to a smaller town," he said.

"And you're doing a co-op at the station to follow in his footsteps?" asked Jill. "That's so sweet!"

"Yeah, nothing like following your father's footsteps, huh?" Chris asked Jill, with a grin. There was a 'thud' from under the table, and he gritted his teeth at the slight pain. Jill gave him an innocent smile, and Leon took the opportunity to sip his milkshake.

"Well, welcome to the station then!" Chris said to Leon. "How old are you?" he asked.

Leon sat up straight. "Sixteen," he said.

Chris looked at him again. He looked like he could handle police work for his age, but there was something about the boy that seemed different, but he wasn't sure what it was. That is, until Leon turned his head and the patch of hair in his face flicked over his ear for a second. Chris grinned as though he'd solved the biggest puzzle ever; the kid was so obviously gay.

"So, how did you run into Jill? We left the station at about the same time, I'm sure I would've seen you on my way out," he said.

Leon looked up, the patch of hair back in his face. "Well, we were just sitting in the break-room and she walked in, then we ended up going to eat," he said.

Chris blinked. "We?" he asked, automatically looking to Claire who seemed very concentrated in her milkshake. He then looked back up to Jill. "I thought you went to get her at school?" he asked.

Jill shook her head. "I was about to, but she showed up at the station to meet up with you," she lied. Forest laughed quietly, amazed at Jill's ability to instantly form a cover-up story.

"How'd you get in the break-room?" Chris asked Claire.

She looked up and sighed. "I was waiting in the lobby, but it was so boring. When I saw Leon walk in, I figured I could talk with him to keep entertained for awhile, at least until you would show up," she said.

"There was nobody else around, so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. I decided to walk around and get to know the place," Leon said.

Chris nodded, looking from one to the other. "So what did you guys do...talk?" he asked.

Claire nodded as well, and leaned forward to see Leon. "I think we've become good friends, no?" she said, smiling. Leon smiled back and nodded.

Chris froze in his seat. _Oh shit, here we go,_ thought Jill. To her surprise, Chris laughed and gave Leon a friendly pat on the back. The boy flinched at first, thinking he was about to get hit, but blinked in confusion. "Glad to see she's finally got a friend!" Chris said. He looked back to his sister and grinned.

"Hey!" Claire said, and smacked him on the arm.

He laughed and nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. She yelped and held her side, and he quickly stopped laughing. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing..." Claire said, leaning forward so her head leaned on the table. "Stomach hurts," she said.

Chris was now in panic mode. "Want me to take you home?" he asked. She shook her head, and he sighed. "I'm sorry," he said.

Claire shook her head again, sitting upright and slightly smiling. "It's fine, just a cramp. Too much milkshake, I think," she said.

Jill frowned, taking a sip of her own. She wanted to say something, but it really wasn't her place. Next to her, Forest's phone went off with a catchy tune. He excused himself from the table and answered it, walking towards the door.

"Well, take it slow with the cheeseburger then. I should really start feeding you more variety," Chris said.

"I'd rather clog my arteries than eat your cooking, bro," Claire said.

Chris grinned and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her towards her in a forced one-arm hug. "You and your big words," he said. He then looked over to Leon. "How about we all go to our place after eating? We could watch a movie or something, it'd be fun," he said.

Leon looked unsure, but nodded. "Sure, sounds cool," he said.

Chris looked to Jill. "How about you?" he asked.

"As long as we eat first...From what I've just heard, I want to avoid going over on an empty stomach," she said. He glared at her, and she laughed.

"Great, party at the oh-so-small apartment," Claire said, still leaning on Chris' arm.

"And as usual, you'll be the life of said-party, right?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I've noticed how social and fun she can be," Jill said sarcastically.

The waitress showed up with their food at the same time as Forest returned from his phone call. Chris asked him about the movie, but he had other plans after eating. While they ate, they talked about all kinds of things. Chris eventually switched seats with Leon so he and Claire could talk, while he conversed with Jill and Forest. Once they were finished, Forest left to do whatever he needed to, and the rest of them headed for the Redfield apartment in Jill's Jeep, leaving the cruiser at the Diner.


	9. Heroes

"Oh please, a zombie wouldn't be able to move that fast," Claire said, as the zombie in the movie caught up to the fleeing girl without even a stumble.

"And you're the expert on the matter, right?" Leon grinned.

"Yes, yes I am! I've played enough games to know that zombies are slow mindless morons who can't take one step forward without falling down," she said. She reached over and stole popcorn from the bowl on his lap.

"Shh!" said Chris, turning up the volume on the TV.

"Oh come on, you've seen this like twenty times!" Claire protested.

"I don't care, you're still dissecting a classic and it's annoying, so shut up and watch the movie!" Chris said.

"Classic?" Jill looked over. "Romero's movies are all so repetitive; I don't see how one can be called a classic. The man needs to learn how to write!" she said.

Chris frowned. "I'm sorry, I should have called a vote on the movie, I didn't know you hated this one," he said. He gave her the sad puppy face, and she couldn't hold back a grin.

"It's not that I hate the movie, I just hate Romero. I read a script of his online once, and I swear I could hear it being narrated by William Shatner!" she said.

Chris laughed, and ate some popcorn from a second bowl on his own lap. He looked back to the movie, and grinned. "Okay, I'll agree that Romero's movies are pretty lame, but that's what makes them so fun! The old black and white terror of people in bad makeup spitting out water and food coloring, I love it!" Claire bumped into him, and he looked aside to see that she and Leon were having a popcorn fight. He would've given her shit about throwing food around, but she was actually laughing. He wasn't used to the sight, and it was only the second time he'd seen it since Jill became his partner. He looked back to Jill, who looked at him, and they both smiled.

"NOT COOL!" yelled Claire. Chris turned his head around quickly and saw her hair and shirt drenched in Pepsi. He and Jill burst out laughing, and Leon was grinning next to the couch.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it!" he said.

"It's freaking cold! How much ice did you have in there!" Claire asked.

Leon laughed. "Only about half the cup," he said.

Claire got up, her bangs dripping in her face and soda leaking down to soak her jeans. She looked aside to Chris, her eyes filled with mischief. He caught her expression, sighed, and nodded. She grinned and leaned down to grab her drink, then turned quickly to Leon. He was faster, and brought his hand up as she was about to throw the contents in his direction. His hand hit the cup, and it tilted backwards and dumped all over her face. "Son of a bitch!" Claire yelled out. Jill was doubled over laughing and Chris had jumped up to avoid getting splashed.

"Too slow!" said Leon.

"Oh man that was good!" Chris said, laughing. Claire headed for her room, dripping and cursing. "Hey, where're you going?" he asked.

"To change!" she yelled, walking in her room and slamming the door behind her.

"I feel kind of bad for laughing," Jill said, still grinning.

Leon sighed. "It was self-defense, really!" he said. "Hope she's not too mad," he added.

Chris shook his head. "She's probably planning a revenge though, so be on your guard," he said.

Not even a minute later, Claire opened her door and stuck her head out. "Your movie sucks, Chris. I'm staying in here," she said.

Chris grinned. "That doesn't surprise me. Take Leon with you, I don't think he's into Romero much either," he said.

Leon blinked, looking at Chris in disbelief. Claire seemed confused as well, but decided not to protest. "Well get in here, then! I'm the one with the video games anyways," she said. Leon got up without a word and headed to Claire's room, shutting the door behind him.

Jill tugged at Chris' arm. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "why? What's up?"

"When we first met, you were chasing your sister around a parking lot with handcuffs for skipping school, so I thought you were the over-protective type," she said.

Chris raised a brow. "And your point is?" he asked.

Jill looked at Claire's door, then back to Chris. "My point is you'll tackle your sister for skipping school, but you're letting her be alone with an older boy in her room, with the door closed?" she said.

Chris laughed. "I highly doubt I have to worry about that guy," he said. He was definitely sure Leon was gay, but suddenly wondered if he was 'openly gay'. Maybe he hadn't told anyone yet, and Chris knew if he was the one to tell people instead of Leon, the boy would leave town in a minute. Jill looked like she was waiting for an explanation, so he just shrugged. "He seems like a cool kid, and Claire's not an idiot, she knows how to be smart," he said.

"How can you be so sure? I mean, you've just met the guy a few hours ago," Jill said.

"And I've known Claire for thirteen years; she's never shown any interest in boys. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," he said.

* * *

"I think your brother thinks I'm gay..." Leon said.

Claire grinned as she bumped into his car in the video game. "Why would you think that?" she asked.

Leon tried desperately to catch up to her but it seemed like she was better at racing games than he was. "Well, you and Jill were talking about him like he was the Hulk or something, but he's the one who told me to come in here," he said.

"He probably doesn't care," Claire replied.

Leon looked at her and noticed she stopped grinning. He set the game to pause, grabbed her arm, and turned her so she was facing him. "Why would you think that?" he asked.

Claire pulled her arm away and set the remote on the bed, then leaned on the headboard. "He's always busy, either at work or hanging out with his buddies. The only time we ever spend together is when we eat at Emmy's, which is nearly always since Chris can't cook and I'd rather not try. I'm pretty sure he doesn't care what I do anymore, which is why he doesn't ask me about school and stuff," she said.

"I'm sure he cares," Leon said. "Maybe he's just trying to give you space?"

"No, we used to be so close, so I doubt he'd suddenly decide to stay distant. He doesn't notice things anymore."

Leon sighed and leaned on the headboard next to her. "You know, I've had that feeling with my dad a few times. I talked to him about it, and he's been hanging around a lot more since. It might help if you talked to Chris?" he suggested.

Claire shrugged. "I guess I should...Thanks, Leon," she said, smiling.  
He smiled back. "Hey, just trying to help. So, what do you feel like doing now? Another game you can beat me in?" he asked.

Claire grinned. "Lots, but I don't really feel like playing anymore. Just talking is pretty fun," she said.

"Or..." Leon held out his hand, "thumb-war?"

Claire locked hands with his and laughed. "You're on, Kennedy!" she said, and they started their thumb-war, laughing.

* * *

"It's getting late," Jill said.

Chris nodded, shutting off the TV. Four hours had passed, and they'd watched two movies without seeing Claire or Leon once.

"I wonder what they're up to," Jill said.

"Claire's probably beating him at twelve different games, she's pretty good at anything I buy her," he said. "Seriously, never challenge her at a video game unless you want to get embarrassed."

Jill nodded and stood up. "I'll remember that...but it's been about," she checked her watch, "four hours! Who plays video games for four hours?" she asked.

"Claire," Chris said, standing as well. He stretched his back and then headed to the bedroom door. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked, looking back to Jill. She nodded, and he looked back to the door. "I'm pretty sure Leon's gay," he said.

Jill grinned. "It's the hair, right? I thought of the same thing when I first saw him," she said.

"Oh sweet, I'm not the only one who thinks so?" he asked.

"Sixteen year-old boys are never that quiet," Jill said.

"That's true...hey, I don't hear anything," he said with his ear to the door. He opened it and stepped in, and saw Leon and Claire sitting on the bed, leaning on the headboard, sound asleep. Claire's head was leaning on Leon's shoulder, but it looked like she'd toppled over after dozing off. "That explains why we didn't see them during the movies," he said.

Jill looked over his shoulder and couldn't help but smile. "Still think he's gay?" she asked.

Chris nodded and looked to Claire's TV. "Looks like they fell asleep while playing a game," he said. He walked over and shut the TV off.

"No more games," Claire mumbled behind him. He turned around and saw that she was still asleep, and couldn't help but smile. Leon, on the other hand, had woken up.

"Shit," he said, looking down to the sleeping Claire on his shoulder. "I can't move," he whispered.

"Don't worry about it," Chris said as he walked over to the bed on Claire's side. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. "Wakey wakey!" he said.

"Go away," Claire mumbled.

"Claire, time to say goodbye to Leon, it's getting late," Chris said, shaking her again.

Her eyes opened slowly and she sat up straight, yawning. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Pretty late," Leon said as he got off the bed and stretched his arm. "Crap, it's asleep," he said.

Claire rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, your shoulder's comfy," she said.

Jill stepped into the room and looked over to Leon. "Come on, I'll drive you home," she said. _This way I can know everything that happened,_ she thought, grinning.  
Leon nodded and headed out of the room. "Night, Claire!" he said.

"Seeya," she replied, still half asleep. Jill waved to Chris and headed out of the apartment with a sleepy Leon.

Chris looked back to Claire and sighed. "Get in your PJ's and go back to sleep, you've got school in the morning," he said, heading for the door.

"Chris, do you think Leon's gay?" she asked suddenly, making him stop mid-step.

He looked back to her. "Why?" he asked.

"Well I never thought you'd willingly let a guy hang out in my room," she said.

Chris sighed. "No, Claire, I don't think he's gay. I'm just glad you finally have a friend," he said as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

_Yep, doesn't care,_ Claire thought. She rolled to her side and fell asleep in less than a minute.

* * *

Everything the next day felt different somehow. Claire had called Jill to let her know she'd changed her mind on learning self-defence for awhile, and that she'd be going to school after all. What she hadn't told her was that Leon's school had a half-day, so he only had to go to the RPD in the morning and was free the rest of the day. He was spending lunch-time with her, so that nobody would start any trouble, and he'd even promised to wait for her after school.

They sat at a picnic table outside of the school now, eating sandwiches. It was a nice day, and the school allowed the students to eat outside as long as they stayed on school grounds. Fortunately, nobody had asked why Leon was there. Most of them just thought he was a new student.

"That's him there," Claire said, nodding towards Mike Landers.

Leon turned and looked at the guy, and now that Claire thought about it Leon was bigger and probably stronger. He turned back and grinned. "He's tiny," he said.

Claire sighed. "He's bigger than me," she said, "and he doesn't care who he hits."

Leon put his hand over hers. "Don't worry," he said.

She nodded and finished her sandwich. "For today, I won't...but what about tomorrow?" she asked.

"Tomorrow's Saturday," Leon said.

"Right," Claire smiled. "I'm completely lost in my days," she said.

Leon grinned. "Well maybe you wouldn't be if you'd gone to school every day like a normal person," he said.

"Oh, don't you start too," she said. She jumped when the sandwich was hit out of her hands, and was suddenly being lifted in the air by the collar of her jacket.

"Where've ya been, Red?" asked Landers.

Leon was on his feet. "Put her down," he said. He caught a smile from the boy, and stepped forward with a stern expression, adding "now."

Landers grinned. "Well well, first she's got her little police buddies try to help, and now she's got, what, the leader of the Pride parade?" he said, laughing.

Claire kicked up quickly, her boot slamming the boy between the legs. His eyes opened wide, and he dropped her before falling to his knees in pain. Leon couldn't help but grin.

"That's for calling Leon gay!" she said, and sent her foot into his face, knocking him back. "And that's for your sister, remember it!" she said.

She pulled her foot back to kick him again, but Leon grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "He's down, you win, stop it," he said. She released her arm and stepped towards Landers, but he pulled her back again. "Claire, you're no better if you start this, just leave it."

She turned and looked at him, then walked back towards the school. "I'm leaving," she said.

"Hey, wait up!" Leon said. He ran to catch up to her, and they walked towards the building. "You're pretty tough when you're mad," he said with a grin. "Remind me to stay on your better side."

Claire grinned. "I'm not mad," she said, "just really sick of that guy. I hit his sister the other day, and realized I could probably take him on too, or at least try."

Leon nodded, smiling. "Well, you did good," he said.

"Well," Claire corrected. "I did well."

Leon blinked. "Do you always do that?" he asked.

Claire nodded, and was suddenly tackled from behind. Landers had her pinned to the ground and in seconds, was holding her ponytail and slammed her face into the dirt hard. Leon grabbed Landers' arm to pull him off, but was pulled back by two other guys.

"You fucking bitch! Thought you could get away, huh!" Landers shouted as he kept slamming Claire's head down. She had managed to turn her head to the side to avoid breaking her nose, but her cheek was getting pretty beaten.

Leon tried fighting the two guys holding him. "Stop!" he shouted.

Landers pulled on Claire's hair and leaned closer to her ear. "I was going easy on you before, but now I'm really fucking pissed off!" he said, slamming her cheek down again.

Leon brought his knee up quickly, hitting one of the guys in the gut. He then brought his elbow into the other guy's chest, and both were on the ground in pain. He ran forward and kicked Landers in the ribs, making him roll to the ground, and ran to him to kick him one more. Landers rolled on the ground holding his stomach, and Leon crouched next to him. "It's over," he said. He then brought his fist down on the side of Landers' face, knocking him out.

Leon got up and sighed, then turned and ran back to Claire. He turned her over and saw the side of her face was covered in dirt and blood, most of which was from her nose, but nothing seemed broken or out of place. He shook her a bit, but he was out cold, so he picked her up in his arms and headed towards the road instead of the school. If he brought her inside when he's not even supposed to be there, who knows what the faculty would do.


	10. Bad Ideas

****So, you might not have noticed, but I enjoy (though fail at) writing out fight-scenes. It's why I created such a heartless bully! Once again, I present another chapter with a bunch of random stuff, which switches from fun to cute to action-packed! I hope you like it!** **

"So, you're saying you have no idea who the killer is?" Jill asked.

Chris shook his head. "It's impossible to know for sure, that's why it takes two hours for these things to actually make sense," he said.

Jill grinned. "For you, maybe, but I've already figured it out," she said.

Chris looked to her. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She pointed to the body on the floor. "That guy there; he's only pretending to be a corpse, but I'm telling you he's definitely the killer," she said.

Chris sighed. "We'll see," he said. He grabbed the DVD remote and fast-forwarded through the entire movie. Finally, he came across a scene where the body on the floor got up, revealing a man in fake blood. He sighed again, looking over to his proud-looking partner. "I guess you're right," he said.

"That's two milkshakes you owe me," Jill said, grinning. They'd spent their day off watching movies neither of them had seen, and bet milkshakes on who was right about how the movie ended. So far, they'd watched two movies and Jill had won both bets.

"Yeah yeah...Bet you can't do three in a row," Chris said, holding up the case for the next movie.

"You're on, Redfield."

Chris grinned and got up to change the DVD, but paused when he heard footsteps outside the apartment door, followed by laughing. The door opened and Leon walked in, carrying Claire, who was holding her keys and laughing. "You're such a show-off," Claire said. They looked at Chris and Leon froze in place.

"What's going on?" asked Chris. He set the DVD case down and folded his arms over his chest. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" He looked at her and finally realized something wasn't right. "What happened to your face!" he asked.

"Some asshole," she said.

Chris sighed. "I told you to stop swearing, please. And what asshole?" he asked.

"A guy at school, he started it I swear!" Claire said.

"It's true," Leon said.

Chris looked over to Jill, who was pretending to read a magazine, hoping to stay out of the conversation. He looked back to Leon and Claire, and waved her over. Leon put her down and she made her way to her brother, looking at him with a faint smile. He sighed and lifted her chin, examining the forming bruise on her cheek, the small cuts and scrapes, and grinned. "There's more dirt than anything else, I think you'll live," he said.

"If you let me," Claire said.

Chris sighed again and looked up at Leon. "And where did you come from?" he asked.

"Well, I had a half day so I went to have lunch with Claire, and this guy showed up out of nowhere. We dealt with him though," he said.

Chris glanced over to his sister, who shook her head. "He jumped me, and Leon just punched him out, I didn't fight!" she said. She knew if Chris caught her fighting, she'd never hear the end of it.

"Why would he jump you? What did you do?" Chris asked.

Claire glared at him. "I didn't do anything; this guy's just a dick."

"It's that Landers kid again?" Jill asked, looking up from the magazine.

Claire nodded, and Chris looked back to Jill. "You knew about this?" he asked.

Jill bit her bottom lip. "Well, sort of. It's the kid who came into the diner the other day. He was causing trouble with Claire so I forced him to leave, right before you got back to the table," she said.

Chris looked slightly confused. "It's weird, but I never saw that guy as a bully," he said. He looked back to Claire and frowned. "I'm sorry, I should've noticed something," he said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's taken care of now," she said, smiling.

Chris glanced up to Leon. "Speaking of, I never thought gay guys were so tough," he said with a grin.

Leon blinked, and Claire nearly laughed. "Chris, Leon's not-"  
"Like the other ones!" interrupted Leon. "I mean, most of us are pretty strong," he said. Claire gave him a confused look, to which he shook his head and smiled. "I could explain later," he said, directing that to both Claire and Chris.

Chris laughed. "No need, I get it! Sorry if I put you on the spot," he said.

"It's okay, I've, uh, already come out. You know, announced it and all. I'm as gay as gay can be!" Leon said. He saw that Jill didn't believe him, but Chris seemed to buy it.

"I don't see anything wrong with that, right?" Chris asked to Claire. She smiled and nodded, then grabbed Leon's arm.

"We'll be right back," she said. She dragged Leon to her room and pushed him in, then closed the door. "Okay, NOW you can explain..." she said.

Leon sighed. "I panicked! I told you he thought I was gay, and if he finds out it's a lie he'll probably kill me!" he said. "Though I'm pretty sure Jill knows."

Claire shook her head. "What the hell are you planning to do, act gay every time Chris is around?" she asked.

Leon shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty much," he said.

"Why? I mean, I don't think he'd care if you weren't. He doesn't have any reason to," she said.

Leon looked away. "He does if I like you..." he said. Claire froze, which made him laugh. "Oh man, it's so cute when you make that face, too bad it's all covered in dirt."

Claire blinked and rushed to the washroom that separated her room from Chris'. She grabbed a face cloth and cleaned up what she could, sighing. She looked back up in the mirror and jumped when she saw Leon standing in the doorframe. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

"I think you shouldn't scare the shit out of people like that," Claire said, drying off her face with a towel.

"No, I mean about what I said before," Leon said, stepping inside the bathroom.

Claire turned and grinned. "I think I like you too, and mind-fucking Chris will be really fun," she said. As she started out of the washroom, Leon blocked her way with his arm. She looked up at him and sighed. "What?" she asked.

"I don't think any of this is a good idea...the more you mess with him, the more he'll want me dead if he finds out," Leon said.

Claire shook her head. "You're just paranoid, thinking he'd worry about anything. Why would he?" she asked. She ducked under his arm and started for the room, but Leon grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"He'd worry, because I'm much stronger than you and he knows it," he said. He saw Claire grin, and put on his most serious glare. "I'm not joking, a lot of my friends had little sisters, and they'd never let them go anywhere alone, or even HAVE a gay friend."

"I know what you mean, but I find it funny that you think you're stronger than me," Claire said, still grinning.

Leon grabbed both of her arms and lifted her off her feet, then held her there. She kicked in the air, laughing. "Okay, okay! Put me down!" she said.

"Aren't you planning on fighting back?" he asked.

Claire brought her foot up and kicked him in the chest, but not too hard. He let her go and she laughed even more. "Score one for Red," she said.

Leon looked at her for a second, then crouched down and rushed forward. Before she knew what was going on, Claire got tackled. She lost her footing and fell backwards onto the bed, thankful it wasn't the floor. She tried getting up but Leon grabbed her sides and started tickling her, sending her in a laughing fit. "I get an extra point for the tickling so it's two-to-one now!" Leon said, laughing.

"St...Stop it!" Claire yelled in between laughing and nearly crying. "You...win!"

Leon grinned and stood up, still laughing. "You know, being ticklish is a really bad thing when trying to start a fight," he said.

Claire sat up on her bed, holding her sides. "Can't control it," she said. They heard someone clearing their throat and both turned to look at the door. Jill stood there, arms folded, leaning on the doorframe. She looked at Leon, then over to Claire. "You're lucky Chris went to the store, 'cause if he'd heard that just now he'd probably be throwing Leon out the window," she said.

"Heard what?" Claire said, playing innocent.

Jill glared at her. "Gee, I don't know...a loud bang followed by your screaming 'Stop'?" she said.

Claire blinked and looked at Leon. "I guess it would sound pretty bad from another room..." she said, and looked back to Jill. "But nothing happened, we were just fighting!" she said. Jill burst out laughing, which slightly angered Claire. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Jill looked up, still laughing. "Fighting? That's the funniest term I've ever heard for it!" she said.

"It's true!" growled Claire.

"I know, I know...I saw him tickling you, don't worry! Gees, you're such an angry little thing!" Jill said.

"Besides, I'm totally into guys," said Leon. Both girls looked at him, and started laughing again.

"Give it up, Leon...I know you're not gay, it's so obvious!" Jill said.

Leon's eyes went wide. "Oh man, I'm so dead!" he said.

Claire got up and walked over to him, grabbing onto his arm. "Don't worry, Chris isn't that bright," she said.

"He's bright, but he has no clue. You're safe, but I'm self-appointing myself the guardian," Jill said. "Anything happens, and you WILL die."

Leon nodded. "Thanks, Jill," he said.

"I'm serious, Kennedy. I find out there's anything above PG-thirteen going on, and you invoke the mighty Valentine wrath!" she said, trying her best not to smile.

Claire grinned. "That sounds like someone being violently sick after Valentine's Day..." she said.

Jill sighed. "Think of that, but with a lot more blood and gore," she said.

"I'd never even consider it," Leon said. Jill nodded, and turned to head back to the living room.

Claire hopped after her, flopping down on the couch. "So where'd Chris go?" she asked.

Jill shrugged. "He said he had something to pick up at the store, so he should be back pretty soon."

Claire pulled out her cell phone and punched in the numbers for Chris' phone. She sat up on the back of the couch and waited.

On the table, Chris' cell phone started vibrating and turning in circles. Claire sighed and flipped her phone closed. "Damn, I wanted him to get some ice cream," she said.

Jill grabbed her wallet off the table and stuck it in her pocket. "Well why don't we all go? We'll leave a note for him to call if he needs us, unless we're back first," she said.

"Sounds like a plan," Leon said.

"Okay then, let's go!" Claire said. She slid down the couch and stood up, walking to the door.

"But it's way faster if we cut through!" Claire argued.

"Doesn't matter, Claire, it's dark out and I still don't know this town well-enough to take chances like that," Jill said.

"You're just scared," Claire said. She headed for the dark alley, but Leon pulled her back.

"She's got a point, it's not safe," he said.

"You guys are both chicken-shit! I've been cutting through alleys at way later times than this, and not once has anything bad ever happened!" she said.

Leon lifted her chin with his hand, passing a finger over a small cut she'd gotten earlier that day. "You really think you're the pro when it comes to safety?" he asked, smiling.

Claire turned her head away, and looked at Jill. "We're three, and you're a cop!"

Jill shook her head. "It's my day off, I don't have anything on me," she said.

Leon grinned. "That's a lie," he said.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Okay, I have a stun-gun and tear gas...but I'm not taking the risk of actually having to use either!"

"You won't," Claire said. After deciding the argument was going nowhere, she simply turned and headed down the alley, knowing the others would simply follow. She turned around, and saw that she was right. They both ran up to walk next to her, and together they started down the dark alley. "You know, horror movies always start off like this," Jill said.

"And so do action movies," Leon said, nodding ahead. Jill followed his gaze and saw two shadowy figures standing halfway down the alley, blocking it. They appeared to be holding pipes or something. She turned and noticed two more figures blocking the way they'd just come from. "Yep, perfectly safe," she said.

"Ain't nowhere in this town that's safe enough for you assholes anymore," said one of the figures.

"Landers," said Jill, recognizing the annoying boy's voice from the diner.

Leon felt Claire's hand gripping his tightly, and could feel her shaking. He wasn't scared, and knew Jill was probably more annoyed than anything...but Claire seemed terrified. He squeezed her hand, hoping to reassure her, but he looked at her and noticed she seemed distracted, probably not even aware she'd even taken his hand at all. He looked back up, glaring at the two guys ahead. "You know, you seem to talk a lot for a guy who went down after just one punch," he said.

Jill nudged Leon, wanting him to shut up. "Don't make this worse," she said.

"Yeah, listen to your little friend...who doesn't seem to be dressed in her police costume today, guys!" said Landers.

"Ain't that a shame?" said one of the guys behind them.

Jill sighed. "Seriously, what do you want?" she asked. "We're kind of in a hurry."

Landers brought up the pipe he was holding, and took a step forward. "You can go, Brace, we just want revenge on the other two," he said, pointing the pipe at Leon and Claire.

"Sorry, they're kind of with me," Jill said.

Leon turned to look at Landers. "Besides, haven't you done enough damage already? I mean, come on! You're the one who started it earlier, and you were beating her face into the ground!" he said. He felt Claire's grip tighten again, and regretted even leaving the apartment now.

"Bitch kicked me in the balls! That's bad for the rep, man, not to mention getting knocked out by a queer!" said Landers.

"I'm sure Claire knows that embarrassment all too well by now," Jill said to Leon.

"...Are you calling me a queer?" Landers asked. He gripped the pipe tightly, and nodded.

Jill blinked and turned around just in time to see one of the other two guys running to her, steel-pipe raised. She jumped and rolled to the side, avoiding the hit just in time, and brought her foot up to his face. He fell to the ground as the second guy ran towards her. At the same time, Landers and his buddy ran forward, and the alley soon became a battle-ground. Leon had picked up a broom and cracked off the end of it, and was now staring down one of the guys, waiting to see who would strike first.

Claire ducked out of the fight and sat next to a dumpster, out of sight. She watched as two more guys came running in the alley and joined the fight. _Great, backup,_ she thought.

Leon and the other guy were taking violent swings at each other, a few of them hitting Leon's arms, but he was mostly beating the other guy. He managed to hit the pipe out of the guy's hand, and knocked him down for good with one quick swing at the legs. Soon after, another guy came running and kicked the broom handle out of Leon's hand. They started fist-fighting, and Claire admired Leon's quick-dodging ability.

She looked over to Jill as she sent a roundhouse-kick into a guy's chest, causing him to slam into a brick wall and fall unconscious. She then turned just as Landers tackled her to the ground, and sat on top of her to pin her there. Claire saw her desperately try to reach her ankle, which she assumed was where the stun-gun was hiding, but Landers was stronger and countered most of her movements. "Get off me, asshole!" she said, clearly pissed off.

"Hey, you're the cop, aren't you supposed to be specially trained for this shit?" he asked, grinning. He reached into his coat and pulled out a switch-blade, and Jill's face switched from anger to terror. "And by the way, I hate cops!" Landers said. He brought the knife up, but was suddenly tackled off of Jill and onto the ground.

Jill rolled to her side and looked up, confused. Claire was on top of Landers, holding his hand that held the knife, and in seconds he'd flipped over and was now on top of her, trying to bring the knife down. Jill got up but something hit her in the back, knocking her back down to the pavement.

"Jill!" Leon yelled out, and looked aside. The guy he'd been fighting had pulled out a knife of his own, and was standing between him and the others. He didn't seem like he was about to go down easily, either.

Claire held Landers' arm with both of her hands, trying to keep the knife away from her. He'd managed to get it close to her neck, but somehow she'd pushed it back. "What the hell is your problem!" she asked, her voice strained. He was much stronger than she was, and her strength wouldn't hold out much longer.

"Just fucking die!" said Landers, pushing down even more. He used his free-arm and elbowed the side of her face, but even then only managed to get the blade slightly closer. At first, he'd just wanted to severely beat her and Leon, but now he was out for blood and didn't care about consequences. He grinned and slammed his fist into her gut, and almost laughed when she gasped for air. One of her hands let go of his arm, but the other still managed to stop the blade from getting her.

Claire's hand fell to her side, and she felt something touch her fingers. She grabbed it and quickly glanced at it, glad to see it was what she'd thought. Jill had somehow rolled the tear-gas to her.

She brought the can up and pushed down on the spray, sending a powerful mist between her and Landers.

"Claire, close your eyes!" Jill shouted, but it was a second too late. She heard Landers and Claire both cry out as the chemicals blinded them. She tripped the guy that was after her, and got up quickly. Her back was hurting, but it wasn't so bad. She sent her foot into the guy's balls, and quickly pulled out her stun-gun. She saw that Claire had crawled backwards away from Landers and was at a safe distance, while the boy blindly swung his knife around and shouted. She turned and brought the gun up, firing it at the boy Leon had been fighting. He yelled in pain as the shock went through him, and dropped to the floor, still twitching. Jill looked around and all of the guys were either unconscious, blinded, or had ran away.

"You okay?" she asked Leon. He nodded and ran to Claire, who was still crying against the wall from the chemicals.

Jill looked down at Landers and kicked the knife out of his hand, then slammed the boy into the pavement, pinning him in an arm-lock. She looked around again, then back to Leon. "Take her phone and call the station," she said. "Tell them it's from me, and we need at least two cars fast, along with a medic."

Leon nodded and did as told, while Claire had her face buried in his shoulder. He looked down, and sighed. "I think she passed out," he said to Jill. He got her phone from her pocket and punched in the numbers, then said exactly what Jill had told him.

"That's to be expected," Jill said.

"You're all dead!" Landers yelled out, but she pulled on his arm a bit.

"Empty threats, kid, empty threats..." she said. She kept him pinned there until the backup showed up.


	11. Slumber Party

****Okay, I'll admit I had fun with this one so be ready! This is one of those filler chapters where the idea came to mind and I said "Bah, to hell with it, let's do it!" and, of course, did.****

Jill finished signing a bunch of report papers, and sighed. Landers and his friends had been taken to the holding cells, and the medic team had taken care of any cuts or scratches they'd received. She'd been given an ice pack for her back, and Leon had one for his face, where he'd apparently taken a few hits.

Claire had been her biggest worry. She'd needed stitches for a small cut on the arm, probably from the knife, and eye drops to sooth the burning from the chemicals. Jill had no idea where to start explaining once Chris found out.

"How's your back?" asked Leon, sitting on the bench next to her.

"Steel pipe, Leon, what do you think?" Jill said. She realized it sounded harsh, so she smiled. "Sorry, I'm just tired, and that paperwork really took the last bit of my patience," she said.

Leon nodded. "I understand. So everything's taken care of?" he asked.

She shook her head. "They still want me to write my own report tomorrow," she said.

Leon sighed. "Well, I'm supposed to be doing a co-op and I still haven't done much of anything, so I'll help you!" he said.

Jill smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Leon," she said. She looked up as Claire was making her way over to them. Forest had his hands on her shoulders, and was guiding her to make sure she didn't bump into any desks. "How is she doing?" Jill asked.

Forest laughed. "The toughest kid I've ever seen!" he said.

"I really...REALLY want to go home!" Claire said.

"Trust me, we know. And I'll drive you home, but we have to wait for everything to be processed through. Sit down," Jill said.

Claire shook her head. "If I sit, I'll fall asleep, and I'm NOT doing that until I get home. Where's Chris?" she asked.

Jill noticed that for the first time since they'd met, Claire sounded like she actually wanted Chris to be there. She pulled out her cell phone and called him again, but there was no answer. "He's still not home," she said. Someone yelled and laughed in the hallway, and Jill rolled her eyes. "Some drunk got dragged in here again, I bet," she said.

"Seems to happen a lot," agreed Forest. "You're in for a fun career, kid," he said to Leon, grinning.

"Yeah, thanks," said Leon.

The door swung open and Barry walked in, laughing as usual. "I apologize in advance," he said with a grin on his face. Barry was often the one to drag in some stupid drunk, so nobody was disturbed about it anymore. Everyone had looked up, but went back to minding their business.

"I feel bad for Barry...he's always the one catching the drunk morons on the street," said Forest.

"That's sad," Jill said.

Leon looked at the clock and sighed. "Gees, it's almost midnight! Why can't we just leave?" he asked.

"I told you, they have to process a bunch of crap," Jill said. She looked up at Claire, who looked completely out of it. "Maybe you should take a nap or something, I bet they gave you some painkillers?" she asked.

Claire nodded. "They did, but they're mostly making me dizzy and not tired. I can wait until I get home, my bed's way more comfortable than a stupid bench in HEY!" she yelled out when someone randomly grabbed her from behind in a massive hug and lifted her up.

Everyone's head turned to see Chris holding Claire up in a bear hug, laughing. "Aw, you're so cute!" he said. He looked over to the others. "Ain't she the cutest little thing?" he asked.

Claire was kicking around blindly, uselessly squirming against the unexpected attack. "Let me go, you stupid jerk!" she said, sounding irritated and panicked.

Chris laughed and hugged her tightly. "But Yer my favourite little sis'!" he said, slurring his words.

Jill stood up, confused. "Chris...Are you drunk!" she asked.

Chris grinned. "No, I'm awesome!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Claire said. She sent a kick back and hit his knee. He cursed and let her go, and she stepped away from him.

"Ow! Oh, ya wanna fight buddy!" Chris asked, raising his fists. He stumbled forward, but Leon stepped in front of Claire.

Forest grabbed Chris' arm and pulled him back. "Chris, maybe you should sit down," he said.

Chris smiled and sat on the bench. "Kay! Yer my best friend, ya know that?" he said.

Forest laughed. "Yes yes, I'm amazing," he said. He looked up at Jill and grinned. "Looks like you've got another one to drive home."

Leon led Claire away from the others. She was obviously confused and felt nauseated, so he brought her to stand next to an open window to get some air.

Jill watched them, then looked back to Forest and shook her head. "I'm taking no responsibility for that guy," she said.

Chris stood up again. "C'mon, we're partners ain't we? You can sleep over too!" he said.

Forest pushed him back down on the bench, and Jill sighed. "Partners or not, there's no way you're getting in my Jeep," she said.

Barry walked over to the group, slightly off-balanced. "They said you guys can leave...and I'm sorry 'bout Chris!" he said, smiling.

"Gee, thanks Barry. Can you drive him home?" Jill asked.

Barry shook his head. "Afraid I can't drive tonight, but it's nice out so I don't mind walking. Maybe Chris can walk too?" he asked.

"Yeah...I wouldn't let him outside by himself like this," said Forest. "Just have Leon keep an eye on him?"

Jill looked over to Leon and Claire, and sighed. "Well I guess I'm going there anyways..." she said. She looked back up and glared at Barry. "You owe me one for this, you."

Barry smiled. "Sounds fair," he said, "you kids have fun now! And Chris, take it easy next time!" he said, and turned to leave.

Chris laughed and looked at Jill. "Where're we goin'?" he asked.

"Home," she said. She walked over to him and sat down on the bench. "I guess small towns don't care about under-aged drinking then?" she asked.

"Who's under-raged?" Chris asked.

Forest laughed. "Man, good luck with this one Jill! If anyone survives, I'll see you tomorrow!" he said, and left as well.

Jill sighed. She didn't want to be left alone with Chris, but he seemed far too gone to be any threat. She looked at him, and he was smiling again. "Chris, how much did you drink?" she asked.

He paused and thought for a bit, then smiled again. "I think I had beer!" he said.

"No kidding...I guess I'll have to tell you what happened tomorrow," she said.

Chris' face seemed to switch to super-serious. "What? Tell me now, wha' happened?" he asked.

Jill blinked and looked over to Claire and Leon again. "Well, we went out to get ice cream and got attacked, and a fight sort of broke out," she said.

Chris jumped to his feet. "WHAT?" he yelled. "WHO WAS IT!" Leon and Claire turned around, and Chris was looking around the room. "I'LL KILL 'EM!" he said.

Leon walked over to Chris and tapped on his shoulder. "They're gone, man, calm down," he said.

"Yeah, we kicked their ass," Claire said.

Chris looked at his sister and stormed over to her. She backed up against the window, terrified, as he towered over her. "You did what! What'd I say 'bout fighting!" he yelled.

"Chris! Come here!" Jill yelled. He turned around and looked at her, and walked over slowly. She glared at him, and pointed to the bench. "Sit down!" she said. He quickly sat on the bench and grinned. _Man, he's like a stupid dog!_ Jill thought. She looked up and pulled out her keys, tossing them to Leon. "Go start the car, please, we're leaving," she said.

Leon caught the keys and nodded, leading Claire out of the room. Jill watched them leave, then turned and smacked Chris in the back of the head. "What the hell's wrong with you! I know you're drunk and completely stupid at the moment, but yelling at your little sister!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry," Chris said, but got smacked in the back of the head again.

"Smarten up, Redfield, or you'll find yourself without a partner!" she said. She stood up and grabbed his arm, pulling him up too like he were a criminal. "Come on, I'm taking you home," she said.

Everyone in the room started clapping, which made Jill blush a bit as she pushed Chris towards the door.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" asked Chris, his face pressed against the car window.

"Almost, so stop asking," Jill said, keeping her eyes on the road. She occasionally glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw Claire looking out the window, which made her feel terrible. She'd been quiet ever since they'd dropped Leon off at home.

Chris turned and stuck his face between his seat and Jill's. "Claaaiiiiree.." he whined. She ignored him, so he reached out and poked her arm. "Heyyy..." he said.

"Leave me alone," she said.

"Aw, come on!" he said, grinning. "Don't be such a party-pooper!"

Claire sighed and looked up into Jill's mirror. "Can we just leave him somewhere?" she asked.

Jill smiled and shook her head. "I wish, but I'd feel bad if something happened," she said.

"Hey, what's this?" asked Chris, poking the bandage on Claire's arm. She yelped and punched him in the face, making him pull back in his seat holding his nose. "Ow...that was uncalled for!" he complained.

"Actually, I've been expecting it since the station," Jill said, grinning.

Claire looked up again. "Can you stay over tonight? Please?" she begged.

Jill looked at her through the mirror and sighed. Claire had put on her sad-puppy face, and it made it impossible to resist. "Alright, but we're locking your brother in his room," she said.

"Kinky," said Chris.

"Alone," Jill added. She parked the car in front of the building, and looked at him. "We're here, get out."

Chris looked at the clock on the dashboard, which read '12:58', and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from his pocket. "Keep the change," he said, handing Jill the bill.

She looked at it and grinned, looking to Claire. "Serves him right," she said, pocketing the money.

Claire didn't seem amused. She opened the door and got out of the car, storming off towards the building. Chris got out as well and ran after her, and Jill leaned back into her seat, sighing. "This is going to be a long night," she said. She took off her seat-belt and got out of the Jeep, following the siblings inside the apartment.

Claire unlocked the door and walked in. Chris threw his arm around her shoulders, leaning on her. "Yer a good kid," he said.

"Get off me, Chris," Claire warned.

Chris frowned. "Don't be mean, I just want a hug!" he said.

Jill saw Claire's hand forming into a fist and quickly grabbed Chris' shirt-collar, pulling him back. "Leave her alone, Chris," she said.

He nodded and walked to the kitchen, laughing. "I love this couch!" he said. He turned and fell backwards onto the kitchen table, laying down on it as though it was the couch.

"Dumb-ass," said Claire. She went to the cupboards and took a glass, then filled it with water.

Jill shook her head and looked at Claire. "Taking your painkillers?" she asked. Claire nodded and jumped at the sudden cracking sound.

The table had cracked and Chris fell right through, laughing. He got back up and looked at the broken table, then to Jill. "What the hell? Someone broke my table!" he said.

"That was you, idiot," Claire said, taking her pills.

Chris glared at her. "Call me names again and see what happens!" he said.

Jill walked to Chris' room and opened the door, then pointed inside. "Now!" she said.

He looked up to his partner and sighed, then walked to his room without arguing. He got inside and Jill shut the door then looked at Claire. They heard a 'bang' and she grinned. "He's out," she said.

"How do you know?" Claire asked.

Jill sighed. "My dad used to drink, and I often had to make sure he got to his room safely. Once he saw his bed, he just passed out and I didn't see him until the next day," she said.

Claire nodded. "I've never seen Chris like this, it's kind of scary," she said.

"Yeah, I can't tell if he's an angry drunk or just a plain stupid one," Jill said. She walked to the couch and sat down. "Do you have an extra blanket and pillow I could use?" she asked.

"I can actually pull out the extra mattress and put it in my room," said Claire, heading to her bedroom.

Jill got up and followed, grinning. "It's the slumber party from hell," she said.

She followed Claire and helped her with the mattress, along with getting a few blankets. Claire pulled out an extra pair of pajama pants, which were baggy so the length was good for Jill, and got everything setup. Jill went into the washroom to change, and by the time she got back Claire had passed out on the mattress, still in her jeans and jacket. Jill sighed and picked her up, put her down on her own bed, and dropped down on the spare mattress with a sigh. "Good thing tomorrow's Saturday," she said, shutting her eyes and letting exhaustion take over.


	12. The Worst Hangover

****Just a head's up: I love drama! It started off as a temporary thought, which turned into an idea, which I then decided would be included in the story **** So, enjoy! (And if you don't, well, I don't care! Just kidding...But seriously, don't hate!)****

****Also, ignore the grammatical mistakes and typos...When I'm tired, I make mistakes and fail at English. I'm getting more exhausted every day, and eventually I'll be writing this fic in French! ****

The curtains had been left open, so when Chris woke up he was blinded by the sun. He rolled on the floor to be on his stomach, and rubbed his eyes. It took him awhile to realize where he was, and once he recognized his carpet he was entirely confused."How'd I get on the floor?" he asked himself.

He got up and rubbed his eyes again, feeling slightly dizzy from the sudden movement. He walked to his door and pulled it open, and was surprised to see Jill standing at the kitchen counter. He stepped out and cleared his throat, making Jill jump and turn around. "Morning," she said.

Chris nodded, confused. "Why are you here so early?" he asked.

Jill put her spatula down and sighed. "I slept over, don't you remember?" she asked.

"Well I know I went drinking, but yeah I can't remember much after that. What happened? Where's Claire?" asked Chris.

Jill turned completely and leaned her back on the counter. "There was a fight yesterday, with that Landers kid again," she said.

"I remember that part, Jill, that was before I went out with Barry," he said.

"No, another fight after you left. We went to get ice cream but took a wrong turn, and that kid jumped us in an alley with some of his friends," said Jill. She turned around again, took the spatula, and started stirring the eggs in the pan.

Chris blinked. "Did anyone get hurt?" he asked. He walked into the room, fully awake now. "And where's Claire?" he asked again.

"She's sleeping, Chris, it's still kind of early. Oh, and by the way, I called in sick for us both," Jill said.

Chris nodded. "But she's usually awake by six," he said. He looked down at the broken table and sighed. "Was that my fault?" he asked.

Jill looked back at him and nodded. "You thought it was a couch. And Claire's still sleeping because of painkillers," she said. She jumped when Chris appeared at her side in a second.

"Painkillers for what!" he asked. "What exactly did I miss?"

"It's nothing bad, just a small cut. Didn't even need more than three stitches," Jill said. "How do you like your eggs?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "Screw the eggs, what happened to my sister!" he asked, looking over to Claire's door.

"I told you, we got jumped. And I know you don't want her fighting, but honestly if she hadn't jumped in I'd probably have a knife through my chest right now," she said. She dumped the scrambled eggs into a plate and rinsed out the pan. "How does Claire like her eggs then, if you don't want any?" she asked.

"I have no idea," he said. He walked over to Claire's door and reached for the handle, but stopped when the spatula was thrown into his back. He turned and looked at Jill, confused. "I'm worried!" he whined.

"I know, but you should leave her alone for now. Once she's wide awake, you can apologize to her for how you acted last night," Jill said, grabbing another spatula from the drawer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You managed to make a complete moron of yourself. And in the process, you scared the shit out of your sister. I've heard that when a girl her age feels threatened or scared, she usually runs to her big brother, but you should've seen the look on her face when she asked me to stay the night. I doubt you would've done anything bad, but she was pretty convinced otherwise," Jill said. She knew she sounded harsh, but hoped it got through to him.

Chris looked back to Claire's door and sighed. "I have no idea what to say," he said.

"Start with an apology, and if you're smart you can tell her it'll never happen again," she said.

Chris nodded. "It won't; I think I just lost track of how many I had, it was a long night. Man, I feel terrible now," he said. Jill took two slices of bread and popped them into the toaster. He walked over and looked at what she was doing. "So, where'd you get all this food?" he asked.

Jill grinned. "I was up early so I decided to make breakfast, but your fridge is pretty much empty so I went out and got a few things," she said.

Chris sighed. "Sorry, we usually eat at Emmy's or have take-out. I really can't cook," he said.

Jill looked up at him. "One of you needs to learn," she said, smiling. She looked over his shoulder and saw Claire walking out of her room, fully-dressed, with her backpack over her shoulder. "Hey!" Jill said, waving.

Claire nodded, walking to the door and stepping into her boots. "I'm going to Leon's," she said.

Chris frowned. "Can't you go later? Jill's making breakfast," he said.

"Not hungry," Claire said. She sat down and started tying the laces on her boot.

"But I made pancakes," Jill said. She held back a grin when Claire's head snapped up.

"You...MADE pancakes?" she asked. "Like, from scratch?"

Jill nodded. "It's not that hard, you know," she said. "I made some eggs and toast, too."

Claire finished tying her boots and stood up. "Well I guess I can stay a bit longer," she said.

Jill smiled and turned back to the food, elbowing Chris on the arm. He stepped away, then sighed and looked at Claire. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

Claire shook her head. "Don't need to, I heard you guys talking," she said, walking over to the couch. She threw her backpack on the floor and sat down.

"Well, I'm sorry for how I acted," he said.

"It's fine," Claire said.

"It won't happen again!" Chris said, walking to the couch.

"Okay."

"Honestly, I give you permission to punch me in the face if ever it happens again," Chris grinned.

Claire looked up at him and nodded. "I did that, actually, didn't really help though."

He sighed and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry," he said, holding out his arms with a smile. Claire rolled her eyes and leaned forward. Chris wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, laughing when she made fake choking sounds. "Hey, I heard you saved Jill from a knife?" he asked.

Claire pulled back and looked away. "Yeah, well, it all happened pretty fast," she said.

Chris saw the bandage on her arm and held back from making a comment. "I'm just glad you're both safe," he said. "How's Leon doing?"

Jill walked over with two plates full of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon slices. She set them on the coffee table and looked at Chris. "He took a few hits, but nothing bad. Mostly bruises on his arms and maybe his face," she said, heading back to the counter to get her own plate.

"Poor guy," Chris said. "Looks like you've got yourself a really good friend there, kiddo," he said, grinning to Claire. He noticed she was staring forward with an expression that mixed shock with confusion. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Claire looked right at the plate. "It's...food. There's food in a plate, with actual utensils and everything!" she said, looking up at Chris. "I haven't seen that since..." she stopped and looked back down.

Chris nodded. "I know, I'm sorry," he said. He looked up as Jill joined them on the couch, and smiled. "I'm really glad we're partners, you're saving lives here!" he said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much awesome," Jill said, grinning.

Claire stuck a piece of pancake in her mouth and her face lit up. She looked at Jill and smiled. "Will you please move in? Or at least teach Chris how to make these!" she said.

Jill laughed. "Better yet, I'll teach you so you can make your own whenever you want, and make Chris go to the diner by himself!" she said.

"That's a deal!" Claire said, and went back to the pancake.

Chris glared at them both. "No plotting against me!" he said. Claire and Jill looked at each other, grinned, and returned to their food. This scared Chris, but he laughed anyways.

* * *

Leon sighed, leaning back into the couch and relaxing. Claire had called him over a few hours ago to watch movies, and he had mostly kept quiet the whole time because he was afraid to say the wrong thing around Chris. Now, it was much easier since Chris and Jill had gone out for the day. He could relax and enjoy the movies, without having to worry about how to act or what to say.

Claire put her feet up on the table and sighed. Leon looked over to her, and grinned. "Bored?" he asked.

She nodded, staring at the movie with little interest. Leon grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, then looked to her. "Let's do something fun then," he said.

"Like what?" asked Claire, turning around on the couch so she could look at him.

"Hmm...I don't know, we could talk about stuff? Oh! I know you like cartoons, so who's your favourite Digimon?" he asked.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Oh great, you're a Diginerd..." she said.

Leon frowned. "You don't like Digimon? It was an amazing cartoon!" he said.

Claire shook her head. "Pokemon was better in so many ways. At least the monsters had original names, and didn't all end with 'mon'," she said.

"Yeah, well, the Pokemon couldn't walk freely, and had to live in a ball until they were called out for fighting. And it wasn't even a fight to save lives; it was so their slave-master could get a neat little badge! Lame..." Leon said.

Claire grabbed a couch cushion and threw it at his head. "Your freaks evolved for a fight and then went back! Admit it, Pokemon's way better!" she said.

Leon grabbed the same cushion and threw it back to her. "That's a lie, Pokemon is stupid and encourages pointless violence," he said.

"Damn right it does!" Claire said, grabbing the cushion and swinging it towards him. He quickly grabbed a second cushion and blocked the hit, and the war began. Claire got to her knees on the couch to get a better swing with the cushion, but Leon blocked every hit and managed to swing a hit at her side. She fell against the back of the couch, and grinned. When he swung the pillow around again, she grabbed it with her free hand, and started beating in with her own cushion.

With nothing left to shield him with, Leon just dove forward and tackled her on the couch. Both cushions fell to the floor, and Leon realized just how close he was to her. He felt a bit awkward, and stared down at her for a bit. She was grinning, which had him confused. "What?" he asked.

"You're crushing me," she said, laughing.

"Well you started it, so deal with it," he said, grinning back.

She tried to free herself, but it was no use. Leon was bigger and stronger, and he seemed to find it hilarious when she squirmed. "Okay, you win, no more fighting," she said.

Leon nodded and sat up straight, releasing Claire. She laughed and jumped at him, pushing him down on the couch. "Not!" she said.

"Oh, please!" Leon laughed, easily lifting her and tossing her back to her spot. "You're like, five pounds!"

Claire glared at him with a grin. "Are you calling me fat?" she joked.

"Yeah, you're a five-pound fatty!" he said sarcastically. Claire edged closer, still grinning. He stared at her for a few seconds, and looked away. "I really like you, Claire," he said.

Claire blinked at the unexpected comment. "You've said that before," she said.

"No, I mean I really, REALLY like you," Leon said, looking up at her. "I'd like to be more than just friends, you know?"

Claire shook her head. "What're you saying?" she asked, though she kind of already knew the answer.

"What I'm saying is..." Leon started, but shook his head. "Forget it, your brother would kill me and you're probably not even interested," he said. "Forget I even said anyth-". He was cut off when Claire suddenly leaned forward and kissed him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chris was driving down the rainy highway with the radio blasting in the car. Jill sat in the passenger's seat, her head leaning on the window, and stared out at the road.

"Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day!" sang Chris.

Jill reached over and turned the radio off. Chris looked at her and frowned. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a minor headache," she said.

Chris sighed and turned onto the exit. "You should've said something, I've got aspirin at home," he said.

Jill shook her head. "It's fine, really. The movie was just a bit loud. Or maybe I've got YOUR hangover from last night," she said, grinning.

"Yeah, I feel like such an idiot for that," he said. He turned onto Main Street and looked at Jill. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

"I kind of filled up on popcorn," she said. She smiled up to Chris. "I think I'll call it a night."

Chris turned onto her street, which was luckily right off Main Street. "Alright...make sure to get something for that headache, though," he said.

"Yes boss," she said, grinning.

Chris sighed. "Don't remind me," he said, not wanting to think about working the next day. He stopped in front of her building and sighed again. "Well, I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow," he said.

"Don't be late," she joked, getting out of the car. "And thanks for the movie!" she said as she ran to the door of the building.

Chris smiled, watching her get inside. He pulled back onto the road and headed home, wondering if maybe Claire and Leon would want to go out for shakes.

A few blocks later, he pulled up in front of his own building, sighing. It was already dark outside, and apart from the movie his Saturday had seemed like a waste. He got out of the car and headed for the building.

Once he reached the door, he pulled out his keys and opened it. "I'm back!" he announced, and froze. Leon and Claire were making out on the couch, only they both stood up and stepped away from one another after hearing him.

"...What the FUCK is going on?" Chris shouted, throwing his keys on the table.

"You're...home early?" Claire said, biting her bottom lip.

Chris ignored her, glaring at Leon. "Get the hell out of here before I throw you out the window..." he said.

Leon started for the door, and Claire took a step forward. "Chris, wait a sec-"  
"NOW!" yelled Chris, and she froze in place. Leon headed out the door, glancing back to Claire. Chris grabbed his arm and pushed him out into the hall, then slammed the door.

"Now, before you get mad, let me explain what happened," said Claire.

Chris took in a deep breath, and looked at her. "I trusted you, you know that? I thought you were the smartest kid I knew!" he said.

"Nothing happened!" Claire said. She flinched when Chris punched the wall next to him.

"Bullshit, I saw you two! Just when I thought I knew someone..." he said.

Claire sighed. "You're the one who thought he was gay," she said.

He glared at her. "I meant you. You were supposed to be smart and innocent, and NOT have any interest in boys! Honestly, you disappointed me," he said.

Claire sat on the arm of the couch, arms folded. "Stop trying to sound like dad," she said.

Chris shook his head, walking to his door. "You know what? I'm glad he's not here to see what you're doing," he said. He only realized what he'd said after hearing it for himself, and turned to look at Claire, who was looking down at the floor. "I didn't mean it like that and you know it," he said. She stood up, and opened his door. "Sit down, I'm not done with you yet," he said, walking through his room to get to the bathroom. He hoped he wasn't being too hard on her, but he'd never expected to walk through the door and see what he'd seen. He sighed, shutting the bathroom door behind him.

About ten minutes later, he walked back through his room and out into the living room. "Okay, where was I..." he said, looking up at the empty living room.

"Claire?" he called out, walking over to her door. He opened the door and looked inside, but her room was empty. "Come on, this isn't funny," he said as he walked through it and went to the washroom, knowing she wouldn't be there since he'd just been in it. He went back into her room and checked her closet, hoping she was just hiding to scare him, but it was empty.

He walked back out into the living room and pulled out his cell phone. He punched in her number and waited. He heard her ringtone, spotted the phone vibrating in circles on the living-room table, and immediately went into panic-mode. He stopped the call and punched in Jill's number. No answer. "Fuck!" he said aloud. He ran to the door, grabbed his keys, and left the apartment as fast as he could. He dialled Jill's number as he ran down the staircase and out the building.

He got the answering machine and cursed, tossing his phone on the passenger's seat when he got in the car. He started up the engine and drove down the road, leaning forward to see better through the rain. He drove down a few blocks, looking at the sidewalks. He even drove by the park, but it was empty. He thought back to the night before when Jill dropped Leon off at home, and headed there. It wasn't very far, so there was a possibility that she'd gone straight there. He hoped she had, but at the same time hoped against it.

After a few turns, he pulled into the driveway to Leon's house and stared at it. He recognized it, so it was definitely the right place. He grabbed his phone and got out of the car, then ran up to the front door and rang the bell. A sudden rush of anger filled him, and he wondered if he'd be able to restrain himself from punching Leon in the face.

As soon as the door opened, Chris lost it. "Where is she?" he asked.

An older man stared at him with a blank expression. "Excuse me?" he asked.

Chris mentally slapped himself and sighed. "Sorry sir, but is Leon home?" he asked, hoping for a yes.

"Leon? Yeah, he's here, but he's upstairs and told me not to bother him," said the old man.

"Is he alone?" asked Chris.

The man looked confused. "Yes...who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Chris Redfield, sir. I'm looking for my sister, Claire," he said.

"Claire? I've met her before, such a nice young girl," said Leon's dad. "I'm sorry, but she's not here."

Chris sighed. "Well if she shows up here, could you please have her call me? It's important," he said.

Leon's dad nodded, smiling. "I hope you find her," he said.

Chris nodded back, then turned and headed back to his car. He flipped his phone open and called Jill again, sitting in his seat and sighing.  
"Yes?" Jill asked in the phone.

"Jill, it's me. Is Claire there by any chance?" he asked.

"What? No, why would she be here?" she asked.

"I sort of yelled at her, and I think she ran off somewhere. I checked around the block, at the park, even at Leon's, but she's not there. She's not anywhere, Jill," he said.

Jill could hear the panic in his voice. "Calm down, she can't be that far. Did you try her cell?" she asked.

"She left it at home. Goddamn it Jill, it's already dark and pouring out here!" he said.

"Where are you?" Jill asked, grabbing her keys and heading out of her apartment.

"Just left Leon's house, heading for Emmy's," he said.

"Chris...what exactly happened? Why did Claire run off?" Jill asked, getting in her Jeep now.

Chris sighed. "I walked through the door and they were making out on the couch. I probably over-reacted when I yelled at her, but she's only thirteen!" he said, turning onto the street where Emmy's was located.

Jill shook her head. _So much for PG-thirteen,_ she thought. "Wait for me at Emmy's, I'll help you look for her," she said. She flipped the phone shut and drove down the road, sighing.

Chris looked at his phone then tossed it back onto the seat next to him. "Claire, where the hell did you go..." he said, sighing.


	13. Lost and Found

Jill got out of her Jeep and shut the door just as Chris was storming out of Emmy's, rubbing his eyes. He walked over to her and sighed. "She's not here," he said.

"Where else would she go?" Jill asked.

Chris shook his head. "The library's closed, she hates school, and I already called the station. Barry says the receptionist hasn't seen her, but he's got everyone there keeping an eye out," he said.

Jill put her hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her, don't worry," she said reassuringly.

He nodded. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I should've known she'd get upset, and now it's dark and pouring and I can't find her...I'm a jerk," he said.

"You reacted the way any big brother would. So, what exactly did you say?" Jill asked.

He paused, and then sighed. "I might've accidentally said I was glad our dad wasn't here to see what she did? But I didn't mean anything by it, really!" he said.

"And she just ran out?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "I went to the bathroom, and she was gone when I got back. She's never done this before," he said.

Jill looked up. "Well, we're getting soaked out here for nothing. Come on, we'll go look around until you can think of somewhere she might've gone," she said, getting into the Jeep. Chris walked around and got in the passenger's seat, and they headed down the road. "Think she might've gone back home?" Jill asked, glancing over to Chris.

"I've been calling the house non-stop...if she was home, she'd answer it for sure," he said. He leaned his head on the window as he looked out. "I have to find her, Jill..." he said.

Jill turned onto several streets, driving slowly so they could keep an eye out. After driving for a few hours, they had pretty much checked the whole city. The rain was coming down harder now, and it was already twelve-thirty. She looked over to Chris, who was still looking outside intently. "Does she know anyone else in the city?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Chris shook his head. "Apart from you and Leon, she's never really had friends," he said, sighing. "A few years ago she was really upset about it, so I told her she could always come to me when she needed a friend. Of course, I started working a lot and we started growing apart," he said.

Jill nodded. "I'm sure she's more than grateful to have you, though," she said.

"After tonight, I doubt it," Chris said, looking at her. "I should know better than to say stuff like that to her."

Jill turned onto another street, sighing. "I just hope she's got an umbrella," she said.

Chris took in a deep breath, forcing a smile. "She hates umbrellas; thinks they're evil, somehow," he said. He looked back out the window, shaking his head.

Jill grinned. That definitely sounded like something Claire would say. "Okay, so let's recap...You walked in on them, yelled at Claire, accidentally said a bad comment about your father, and she ran out. If it were you, where would you have gone?" she asked.

Chris sat up straight as they drove by the cemetery. "There! Go back!" he said, looking outside.

Jill slammed the brakes and went in reverse, stopping again in front of the cemetery gate. Before the car was even completely stopped, Chris opened the door and ran out into the rain. He ran to the gate and looked at the lock, then kicked it. Jill walked up behind him and sighed. "It was worth a shot," she said, looking up at the brick wall that circled the property. "I don't think a kid her height could've jumped over," she said.

Chris looked up. "She could've gone in before they locked the gate, right? And if she was in there after dark, the guard probably didn't know she was still there," he said, hoping to convince himself more than Jill.

"It's possible," Jill said.

Chris took a step back and looked at the brick wall. He walked up to it and passed his hand over one of the stones. "Damn, the rain made it too slippery to climb," he said, hitting it with his fist.

Jill sighed and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small pouch and walked over to the gate, kneeling down. "You owe me one," she said. From the pouch, she pulled out two small lock picks, and started working on the lock.

Chris couldn't help but smile. "I owe you way more than just one," he said.

"Damn right," she said. Not even a minute later, the lock opened and she removed it from the gate, tossing it aside. She looked up at Chris and grinned. He smiled and pushed the gate open, running inside. Jill followed him as he turned onto a different path. "Do you know where you're going?" she asked.

Chris slowed down to a jog, nodding. "It's the one thing I'll never forget," he said. "Shit, I should've thought of this place sooner! I'm so dumb!" he said.

Jill watched the headstones as they ran by. Graveyards were creepy at night, especially with the rain, and she wondered how a thirteen year-old would be in here alone without getting scared. _One hell of a tough kid,_ she thought.

Chris stopped in front of a small forest. "It's just on the other side of these trees," he said.

"Are you sure Claire would go this far alone? In the dark?" asked Jill, shivering.

"Positive," Chris said, walking down the path through the forest, with Jill close behind. "She doesn't scare easily, so dark forests and alleys don't really bother her," he said.

"Oh, that I know," Jill said, remembering the night before.

They walked through the forest, and at the end was a long stretch of headstones in a clearing. Jill could barely see anything through the heavy rain, and saw that Chris was having the same problem. She followed him down the rows of headstones, looking around. Just before she could ask how far they'd gone, Chris froze in place. She followed his gaze and saw Claire curled up between two headstones.

Chris walked forward and crouched down next to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. "Claire, wake up," he said. He shook her again and she slowly opened her eyes. Chris smiled and sighed in relief. "You had me worried sick!" he said.

Claire blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"It's late," Chris said. He took off his jacket and put it over her. "Claire, I'm sorry I yelled at you, and I know what I said was stupid, but I didn't mean it," he said.

"I know," she said. Chris brushed her wet bangs out of her face and she sighed. She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm sorry," she said.

Chris shook his head and picked her up in a hug. "You just really scared the shit out of me," he said.

Claire looked over his shoulder and saw Jill standing there awkwardly. She smiled. "He dragged you into this?" she asked.

Jill grinned. "You really thought you could run off and NOT have Chris call me? Everyone was worried, you know, not just him," she said. "Aren't you freezing?"

"I have a jacket," Claire said.

Chris stood up, pulling her up with him. "Yeah, with no sleeves," he said. "We really need to get you something warmer."

Claire sighed and looked back down to the headstones. Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close. "We should come here more often," he said. Claire nodded, and they turned to look at Jill. "Let's go," said Chris.

Jill nodded and they walked back through the forest and out the cemetery.

****I know it was short, but adding more to this chapter would've been completely out of place. And as much as I hate to say it, I think I'm nearing the conclusion of this story! I'll take my time to think of a good way to end it, and finally concentrate on my other 'in-progress' stories . Woo!****


	14. Leon's

****Before anyone asks, NO I did NOT make those places up! They are real, and if you've never heard of them, well...I guess it's a Canadian thing! THEY ARE REAL, DAMNIT! .!****

Jill stood at the kitchen counter, stirring the soup she was making. She sighed and looked back to the couch where Claire was sleeping, wrapped in two blankets and a sleeping bag. _Sundays..._she thought.

Earlier that morning, Chris had called the station to let Barry know everything was fine, but that he and Jill would not be going in since they had a lot of things to deal with. Of course, the excuse was only good for Chris, so Barry had promised to make up a good story to tell Chief Irons so Jill could have the day off as well. _My first week and I'm already skipping work,_ she thought, _awesome._

She'd spent the rest of the night on the phone with Chris, helping him decide what he should do about his situation with Claire and Leon. If he hadn't sounded so helpless, Jill probably would've hung up and gone to sleep. Finally, Chris had decided that even if he told his sister to stay away from the boy, she wouldn't listen, so he allowed the two to have their crush as long as it was supervised at all times.

Chris had called her back to let her know he'd be talking to Leon alone about consequences, and something about threats, but Jill had only listened partially. She figured her partner was trying to sound tough, so she'd agreed when he asked her opinion and ended the call feeling mentally exhausted.

Not even an hour later, Chris had called again asking her if she would mind watching Claire for the day. Apparently, she'd woken up with a fever and Chris was worried that the lack of heater in their apartment would only make things worse. After ten minutes of protesting, Jill finally agreed to pick Claire up and bring her back to her own apartment for the day, as long as Chris wasn't there to panic every five seconds.

Jill put the lid on the soup and walked back to the living room, dropping down on the lounge chair with a sigh. She looked at Claire, who still seemed to be shivering under all those blankets, and laughed.

Claire opened her eyes and looked at Jill, who stopped laughing immediately. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked.

Claire shook her head, which was barely visible underneath the sleeping bag. "I wasn't sleeping," she said.

"How are you feeling?" Jill asked, sitting up straight.

"Cold," said Claire.

Jill sighed again. "I'm sorry, but you seriously have all the blankets I own. I made soup so whenever you feel hungry let me know, okay?" she said.

"What were you laughing at?" Claire asked.

Jill blinked, caught off-guard. "Just thought it was weird to see you so...quiet," she said, grinning. Claire sighed and turned to face the back of the couch. Jill laughed again, and looked up when she heard a knock on the door. She got up and walked over, opening it just a little to see out in the hall. She smiled at the landlord and opened the door completely.

"Hello, Miss Valentine," said the man, holding up a small box, "I've brought what you asked for."

Jill smiled and took the small heater from him. "Thank you so much!" she said, turning to set the box down on the table.

The landlord stepped in and looked at the couch. "I see you have a guest," he said, smiling.

Jill nodded, taking the heater out of the box. "My partner's sister got sick last night, and his building's heater is broken so he asked me to watch her. I guess I should've checked if our heater worked before saying yes, huh?" she said, laughing nervously.

The landlord's smile faded and he looked at her seriously. "I would've said something, but I had no choice," he said.

"I know, it's my fault," Jill said.

"I mean, heat is expensive in these buildings, and I don't charge much for rent so most of that comes from my own pocket," he said.

"I know, I'm not accusing you or anything."  
"And if ever rent seems too high, I'm terribly sorry," he said, looking right at her.

Jill sighed. "Look, I know I still owe you the rent, and you'll get it as soon as the first pay comes in," she said.

The landlord reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He put them over his eyes and smiled. "I know you will, dear," he said. He then turned and walked out of the room. "I hope your partner's sister gets well," he added, and disappeared down the hall.

Jill walked to the door and shut it, shivering. "That guy gives me the creeps," she said, knowing Claire was only pretending to be asleep.

"Hide your children?" she asked from under the blanket.

Jill grinned. "Not funny, Claire," she said, setting the small heater down near the couch. She plugged it in, and turned in on at the medium setting. "At least he was nice enough to lend me a heater," she said.

"Probably expects a favor for it," Claire said.

Jill looked up and glared at the lump of blankets. "Hey you, you're supposed to be sick, so don't start the dirty comments," she said.

"I'm just saying," Claire said, and Jill could hear from her tone that she was holding back from laughing.

There was another knock on the door, and Jill rolled her eyes. "Now what..." she said, opening the door.

Leon stood there, staring forward with a blank expression. "Hey, Jill...could I come in?" he asked.

Jill saw Claire poke her head out from under the blanket, and looked back to Leon. "Depends, does Chris know your here? Have you signed the five forms for visiting rights? Oh, and have you checked to make sure the President has also signed said forms?" she asked, grinning.  
Leon stared at her, showing no emotions. She sighed, stepping aside as he walked in, and closed the door. "Humor is wasted on you people," she said.

Leon sat on the couch at Claire's feet. "Sorry, it's just been a long morning," he said.

Jill walked over and sat on the lounge chair again. "What exactly did Chris say to you? And make sure you articulate; I might want to make a book out of this someday, and articulation helps me get the quotes right," she said.

Leon looked up at her and finally grinned. "I can't tell you what he said, but I can tell you that I fear for my life and anything about it," he said.

"Wow, that bad, huh?" asked Claire.

"That bad..." said Leon.

"Don't worry, he's just overreacting a lot 'cause you're just thirteen," Jill said to Claire.

She looked up and sighed. "When is he planning on NOT overreacting, then?" she asked.

Jill grinned. "On your thirtieth birthday, I suppose?" she joked. They both glared at her, and she shook her head. "Seriously, no humor at all!" she said.

Leon looked at Claire and smiled. "I think it's worth the trouble," he said.

"Ass," she said with a grin.

Jill sighed. "Well, you should probably go home, Leon. Claire's sick, and we wouldn't want you catching it, right?" she asked.

"Well, no, but I was kind of hoping we could hang out," he said.

"I feel better anyways," Claire said, "not even cold anymore."

Jill looked at her and grinned. "Well great! We can go shopping then, I need a new bed," she said.

Leon stood up, hands in the air. "Sorry, I don't do shopping," he said.

"Well I'm not leaving the two of you alone, so you can either go home or join us," Jill said.

Leon looked at Claire and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I'll call you later!" he said.

Claire nodded, sighing as he headed out the apartment. She looked at Jill and glared. "You couldn't just let us hang out here? Nothing would happen," she said.

"As much as I believe you, I can't go over Chris' word. He said no, so I have to do the same. Now, where can I buy furniture in this city?" Jill asked.

Claire sighed. "Leon's has comfy beds," she said.

"And how would you know that?" Jill asked, shocked.

"Well we went there for a couch, but I was bored so I spent most of the time on a bed," she said.

"And how do you think Chris will react when he finds out about this?" Jill asked.

Claire blinked. "He's the one who dragged me down there!" she said. "Why would he react at all?"

Jill shook her head. "You said you went to Leon's for the couch but went on a bed instead? How would he NOT react?" she said.

Claire paused for a few seconds, staring at Jill. She then burst out laughing. Jill stared at her seriously. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"The furniture store is called Leon's, as in Leon's Furniture! Not Leon's HOUSE!" she said, holding her sides from laughing.

Jill glared at her, but couldn't hold back a smile. "Alright, I do admit that is pretty funny...but you really scared me for a second," she said.

"Sorry, I didn't even realize it," Claire said, giving Jill a goofy smile.

Jill got up and grabbed Claire's shoes from the mat by the door, tossing them to her. "Come on, dork, let's go," she said, grinning.

* * *

Chris was parked outside of Jill's apartment building, tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. He had his cell phone jammed between his ear and his shoulder, and waited. Once again, he reached Jill's answering machine. He grabbed the phone and flipped it shut, then stared at it. "Why won't you pick up?" he said. He opened it again and dialled a different number, then waited again.

"_Hey, you've reached Jill! Oh wait, no you haven't! I'm not available right now, so please leave a message and I'll get back to you. Unless this is work calling me in. If so, then I'm sick and can't come in, sorry! And thanks!"_ said the voice mail.

Chris grinned and hung up. He'd never actually heard the voice mail on her cell phone, and thought it was pretty clever. His grin disappeared when he realized he had no way to reach Jill, and her Jeep wasn't there so going inside was of no use. He took in a deep breath and opened the phone again, dialling Claire's cell phone number, and waiting once more. He felt relieved after three rings, when Claire answered.

"Claire!" he said, before she could even say anything. There was a pause.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I've been trying to reach Jill, do you know where she is?" he asked, turning the key to start the car.  
"Yes."

Chris blinked, looking at the phone. She seemed either bored, or distracted. "Where are you?" he asked.

"At Leon's," she said.

"At...why? What are you doing there?" asked Chris, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"Sitting on a bed," she said.

Chris froze. "And why the hell are you sitting on a bed at Leon's?" he asked, trying to keep calm but failing.

"Hang on," she said, and Chris could hear a man's voice in the back saying "how's this?" to which Claire responded with "too hard, hurts the ass,", and his imagination drove him crazy.

"Claire!" Chris yelled into the phone.

"What?" she asked.

"Stay there, and tell that guy he's dead! I'm on my way!" he said, shutting the phone and slamming his foot on the gas. He was enraged, speeding, and headed straight for Leon's house.

* * *

Claire looked at her phone and blinked, then shut it and put it back in her pocket. She looked up at Jill, who was talking with the salesman. "Chris is on his way...I think he's mad," she said.

Jill looked over. "Why would he be mad?" she asked.

Claire shrugged and looked at the salesman. "He says you're dead," she told him.

The man smiled. "Okay, fine, ten percent discount and that's my final offer," he said.

Jill laughed. "She's joking," she said, looking back to Claire. "Seriously, why is he mad?"

"I don't know...because he's Chris?" she said, grinning.

"Makes sense," Jill said. She walked over to another bed and sat down. "This one seems softer," she said.

Claire got up and walked over, sitting next to Jill. "Yeah, but I think the Ashley's store is way cheaper," she said.

The salesman leaned on the frame with a grin. "It is, but I hear Ashley's customers always leave unsatisfied, or with empty wallets," he said.

"Do all the furniture stores in this city have people names?" Jill asked.

Claire laughed. "I like this one," she said.

Jill rolled her eyes. "I bet you do," she said. She got up and went to sit on another bed, followed by the salesman.

Claire watched them go, grinning. Any salesman would be bored from following someone around the store all day, but she could tell this one had a thing for Jill. Maybe that's why Chris was mad at him? Maybe he knew somehow? She made a mental note to ask him later.

Just then, her cell phone rang again. She pulled it out and looked at the screen, sighing. "Yes Chris?" she asked.

"You little liar, you're not at Leon's!" said Chris.

"Yes I am! I'm sitting here right now!" she yelled. A few people looked over, and she quickly turned away. "Why would I lie about that?" she asked.

"Liar, I got there and literally made an ass of myself by yelling at Leon and his dad! You have no idea how close I came to pretending to have a search warrant just to see if you were hiding somewhere," he said.

"Wow, glad you trust me and all," she said. "You asked where I was, I told you, and now you're mad at me anyways! What the hell, Chris?"

Jill walked over and grabbed the phone from Claire, sighing. "Chris, are you harassing your sister again?" she asked.

"...Jill? Where are you guys?" he asked, a bit confused.

Jill looked at Claire and shook her head. "We're at Leon's, didn't Claire tell you?" she said.

She heard him sigh. "But I was just at Leon's and he wasn't even home! His dad says he has no idea where anyone is," he said.

"No, Chris, we're at Leon's furniture store. I got confused too when I first heard about it, but turns out it's an actual place...go figure!" she said. Chris mentally slapped himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Chris, you can meet us back at my place if you want, Claire's not feeling well so I'll take her back," Jill said.

Chris sighed. "She shouldn't be out in the first place...but sure, I'll meet you guys there," he said.

"Oh, and could you pick up an ice pack or anything else that can bring down a fever?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem," said Chris.

Jill grinned and looked at Claire. "We'll see you in a bit, then!" she said, ending the call right after. "I can go bed-shopping some other day," she said, "come on."

Claire got up and followed Jill out of the store, and into the Jeep. "His trust issues are really starting to piss me off," she said.

"Considering how I reacted when you first mentioned Leon's, I'm surprised I didn't hear explosions in the background," Jill said, laughing. She glanced over and Claire's annoyed expression only made her laugh harder. She started the car and drove down the road, towards her apartment.


	15. Peas

****I'm sorry I took so long, but I've been juggling four stories, a new job, and a headache for a few days now :P Posting new chapters was not on my priorities list (Take that, MT!) my excuse is that I was only born with one brain, and it's not always functional **** Hope you like! I've added a new character, whom I truly hate and hope nobody argues with me on how much I plan on messing that person up!...so yeah, enjoy!****

Chris parked in front of the apartment building and sighed, staring at Jill's Jeep parked in front of him. He was still trying to calm down after the misunderstanding, and if Jill hadn't explained it to him he probably would've snapped someone's neck.

With a final sigh, Chris grabbed the grocery bag from the seat next to him, got out of the car, and headed for the building. He looked into the bag, feeling stupid for only getting a pack of frozen peas. Jill had said some sort of ice pack, and this was the only thing he found that he knew would help; but it was still a bag of peas, which seemed kind of cheap.

He shook his head as he stepped inside, and headed up the stairs to Jill's floor. If it would help bring his sister's fever down, he didn't care how cheap it made him look. It was necessary, and that was all that would count.

Chris walked down the hallway to Jill's door and stopped, sighed again, and knocked. He then tried the doorknob and realized it wasn't locked, so he simply opened the door and walked in. "Hey, it's me!" he said.

Jill looked up and smiled. "Finally, I was starting to wonder if there was a Jill's Sandwich Shop or something out there...names are starting to get confusing in this city," she said.

"Funny," he said, turning to shut the door. "I got her peas," he said. He turned to look at her and saw both Jill and Claire were staring at him blankly. "What?" he asked.

"...Is it hereditary?" Claire asked.

Chris could tell that she was holding back from smiling. "Is what hereditary?" he asked, confused.

"Herpes," she said. Jill burst out laughing.

Chris' jaw dropped. "What? I don't have herpes!" he said.

Jill wiped a tear from her eye. "You announced it so openly, Chris," she said.

He glared at her and threw the grocery bag to the floor. "Frozen peas!" he protested, "I got her frozen peas!"

"But...why?" Jill asked, still unable to stop smiling.

"You said to get an ice pack, but I couldn't find one so I got these instead," said Chris. He looked to the bag, then to Claire. "And if you keep picking on me, you won't get anything," he said.

Claire frowned. "I'm sorry, I won't!" she said. Chris grinned and picked up the bag, then walked over and stuck the bag of peas on her head. She held it there and flopped back down on the couch.

"So...movie night?" asked Jill.

Chris sat on the chair next to the couch and nodded. "That could be fun," he said.

"Can I call Leon?" asked Claire.

"No," said Chris, leaning back into the chair. "Not while you're sick."

"I'm not sick."

Chris leaned forward again, sighing, but got distracted when Jill's house-phone rang. She blinked and looked up. "Nobody but you and work have my number," she said to Chris.

"Maybe it's work, then?" suggested Chris.

Claire grinned and reached forward. "I've got this," she said. She picked up the phone and grinned again. "Valentine sex-line, how may I-"  
"Give me that!" Jill yelled, yanking the phone out of Claire's hands. Chris gave his sister a slight smack behind the head, but she laughed and smacked him back.

Jill took in a deep breath and brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she said.

"What the hell was that? Was that Redfield's sister? I hate that kid, nothing but trouble," said a deep, angry voice.

Jill sighed. "What can I do for you, Chief?" she asked.

"I need you to come down here now! Is Redfield there?" said Irons.

"No sir, I think he's selling himself down on Main Street," she said, grinning up at Chris, who rolled his eyes.

"That's hilarious," Irons said, using the most sarcastic tone he could. "I know he's there, and I want you two to get down here, and fast!" he said, and hung up right after.

Jill put the phone on the receiver and sighed. "What an asshole..." she said.

"What did he want?" asked Chris.

"Wants us to go there now, but he didn't say anything else. Does he do that often?" Jill asked.

Chris grinned. "That's how we met...Irons has such a great way with people," he said.

"Can I go too?" Claire asked, looking at Chris.

"No, you're sick so you're staying right here," he said.

Claire grinned. "Okay, but while you're gone I might get bored and call a friend over or something," she said.

"Like who? The only friend you have is Leon," Chris said.

"I know," said Claire, still grinning.

Chris stared blankly at her, then stood and walked over to the door. "Alright, you can come too," he said. "But the second you feel tired or dizzy, we're leaving...no matter what Irons says!" he said.

Claire nodded and got up, as did Jill. "God, I hope you get dizzy..." Jill said.

* * *

Claire sat on a bench in the lobby, banging the back of her head against the wall. She'd sat there many times waiting for Chris, but usually there was a receptionist she could bother. Now, it was Sunday afternoon and the receptionist was either at home relaxing, or off working somewhere else. The only other person in the lobby was a little girl, about half of Claire's age, but she'd just finished crying and now wasn't the time to start annoying her.

She picked up a magazine from a table and started reading. After reading only two pages, she started to feel like she was being watched. She lowered the magazine and saw the little girl standing there, watching her.

"You know, that's kind of creepy," said Claire.

The little girl nodded, but kept staring.

Claire put the magazine down on the table and leaned forward on the bench. "What do you want?" she asked.

"A friend?" said the girl.

Claire blinked, then picked up the magazine again and held it open in front of her. "Oh, you want the third floor for that," she said. She peeked around the side of the magazine and grinned, seeing the girl lower her head. "I'm joking," she said, lowering the magazine again.

"Oh, I know," said the girl.

"Why are you here?" asked Claire.

The girl walked over to the bench and hopped up to sit on it. "Mommy was walking fast, and I couldn't keep up, and then everyone was too tall and I couldn't see mommy anymore. I started crying until mister Leon brought me here," she said.

Claire blinked. "Leon? Leon's here?" she asked. The girl looked a bit confused, and Claire shook her head. "So, did anyone call your mom to tell her you were here?" she asked.

The girl shook her head. "A fat man was here but he took Leon through the door, and then I was alone," she said, looking down.

Claire sighed and looked up at the door across the big lobby. "Probably had to go see that new co-op student, just like Chris," she said. She looked back to the girl and saw that her expression clearly indicated that she was about to cry. "Hey, it's okay...I'm sure someone will call your mom soon," she said.

The girl shook her head. "Mommy won't come get me," she said.

Claire blinked. "And why not?" she asked.

"She has work, and it's more important," she said.

"I'm sure that's not true," said Claire. "She's probably worried sick right now, and she'll be here in no time!"

The girl looked up, tears in her eyes. "She doesn't like me," she said.

Claire sighed and leaned back into her seat. "You're wrong. Maybe she doesn't act like she cares, but she's probably really worried and loves you very much," she said. "My brother's always working and I feel the same way sometimes, but I know he cares, even if it doesn't seem like it."

The girl wiped her eyes with her arm. "Really?" she asked. "So my mom might be doing like your brother?"

Claire nodded, and smiled to her. "So don't cry, okay? Once she knows you're here, she'll come running through that door and everything will be fine," she said.

The girl smiled back, and nodded as well. "Thanks!" she said.

"What's your name?" Claire asked.

The girl grinned. "Sherry. Sherry Birkin," she said.

Claire held out her hand, and Sherry shook it. "Well Sherry, my name's Claire, it's nice to meet you," she said. Sherry nodded, and they both laughed.

They talked for about ten minutes, when a blonde woman came bursting through the front door. She looked around the lobby and spotted the two girls laughing on the bench. "Sherry! There you are!" she said.

Sherry looked up. "Mommy!" she said, standing up.

The woman opened the door again and waved her daughter over. "I've been looking all over for you! Come on, I have to get back to work," she said.

Sherry said goodbye to Claire and ran over to her mother, and they left. Once again, Claire was sitting by herself with nothing to do.

The door to the offices opened, and Leon walked out. He headed right to the front door, backpack thrown over one shoulder. Claire smiled and got up to follow him, but stopped when she saw a young woman run out from the office door behind him. She caught Leon by the arm, and seemed to be hugging it. She talked to Leon, still hugging his arm, and they were both laughing. Claire watched them talking, realizing neither of them were aware of her presence.

The girl finally let go of Leon's arm and he waved to her before leaving the building. The girl smiled and turned around, heading back towards the office door. She stopped when she spotted Claire standing by the bench across the lobby.

Claire watched her make her way over, walking with a certain sense of self-pride. She was tall, had short hair, and her features clearly indicated she was part Asian.

"Hello," she said.

Claire watched her for a bit, and nodded. "Hi."

"Are you waiting for someone?" asked the woman, arms folded across her chest.

Claire nodded again. "Yeah, my brother works here," she said.

The woman nodded. "I see...These two cops were showing me around, and one of them was saying he had to get back to his sister. Guess that's you, huh?" she said, grinning. "I'm Ada Wong, I start my Co-op here tomorrow."

"That's nice," said Claire.

Ada smiled. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you Claire? Everyone was talking, and that name was repeated a lot but I didn't meet anyone by it," she said.

"Yeah, that's me," said Claire. "Who talked about me?" she asked.

Ada grinned, and Claire hated her for it. "That Chris guy, mostly...but Leon mentioned you a few times," she said.

Claire sat on the bench, almost glaring at her. "You met Leon?" she asked.

Ada started laughing. "Of course I did, he was the first person I noticed here. He's cute, you know," she said. She saw Claire shift uncomfortably on the bench, and grinned. "And he's such a flirt, too. He told me he was kind of with somebody, but was sick of babysitting and when I asked him out he said yes! My first day here and I already have a date, isn't that great?"

Claire took in a deep breath, unsure of what to say. Ada could tell she was getting to her, so she went on. "Just between us girls, I feel bad for him, you know? He made it sound like he had this obligation to spend time with this kid, but can't think of breaking her heart! The poor boy," she said. "Well, I'd betting get back before I get on that Chief's bad side. See you around, Claire!" she said, walking back to the office door and disappearing behind it.

Claire stared at the door for a bit, Ada's words repeating in her head. She'd said Leon was sick of 'babysitting', and obviously the 'kid' she was talking about was her. She leaned back into her seat, trying not to think about it. She couldn't imagine Leon ever saying something like that, but then again she could see where it would be true...she was only thirteen, and he was turning seventeen soon. He didn't need her now that he had someone closer to his own age, and it would be selfish to try keeping him from being happy.

Claire felt like too many thoughts were circling in her head, and it was causing a migraine. She got up and ran to the door that lead to the gardens, opened it, and ran out as fast as she could.

* * *

Chris hit the end button on his phone and sighed, looking up at Jill. "She's not home, either," he said.

Jill shrugged. "Maybe she went to Emmy's? You know, at her age, I couldn't sit still for that long either," she said. "Plus, she does like her milkshakes."

Chris shook his head. "I've called Emmy before and asked that if she ever showed up there alone to call me and let me know," he said.

Jill blinked. "I guess that's a good idea..." she said. "Well then, what about her cell phone?" she asked.

"It's off," he said. He started pacing back and forth in the lobby of the station. "I don't like this, Jill...she's nowhere I can think of," he said.

Jill sat on the bench and sighed. After they'd finished showing the new girl around, they had come back out into the lobby only to find out Claire was gone. They'd checked around but it was clear that she was no longer in the building. Chris had called a few places including the cemetery, which had been a really awkward conversation with the keeper, but Claire hadn't gone anywhere. Even Leon sounded worried when he heard she was missing again, which told Jill that he probably wasn't lying about not knowing where she'd gone. Jill looked up again and saw the worry on Chris' face. "She'll turn up," she said.

Chris stopped pacing and looked at her. "She's sick, Jill, she shouldn't be out there. I should have left her at home, such an idiot," he said, returning to the pacing.

"I wonder if something upset her," said Jill, standing up.

"Like what? We weren't in there all day you know," said Chris.

Jill shrugged, heading for the door. "Why don't you go check your place? Maybe she wasn't feeling well and went home to sleep, or maybe she left a note of some kind," she suggested.

Chris shook his head. "Claire doesn't leave notes," he said. "She either calls or waits until she can tell me in person."

Jill looked over to him. "Just go check, Chris, you might be worrying over nothing," she said. She opened the door and sighed. "Great, it's pouring again," she said.

Chris walked over to her and looked outside. It was nearly impossible to see the car past the rain. "Why does she always take off when it's raining?" he asked, sighing. They left the station and ran to the car, then drove towards the Redfield apartment.


	16. Ada

Chris parked into the street, sighing. He got out of the car and looked over the top as Jill did the same. "So, how angry should I be?" he asked.

Jill shook her head. "Not one little bit until you find out what happened," she said. "Trust me; if you get pissed off on the spot she'll keep resenting you."

Chris frowned. "She resents me?" he asked.

"Well, no, but she will if you start yelling at her," Jill said, forcing a smile. She looked over his shoulder at the apartment building and her smile turned to a look of near panic.

Chris noticed. "What?" he asked as he turned to see what she'd seen. On the steps of the building, Claire was curled up with her head leaning on the railing. He shut the door to his car and ran towards her. When he reached her, he saw that she was out cold. Chris sighed and shook her shoulder slightly. "Hey," he said.

Claire remained asleep. Chris thought that if she was faking, she was really good, and shook her arm again. "Come on, it's time to wake up and explain yourself," he said with a grin.

Jill crouched down next to them. "Man, she's really out," she said.

Chris nodded and put his hand to Claire's forehead. "Holy shit, she's burning up!" he said.

Jill frowned. "Well she's out in the rain and she's sick, so I'm not surprised," she said.

"Probably forgot her damn keys again," Chris said as he scooped his sister up in his arms and headed towards the door. "Hey, can you grab my keys from my pocket and get the door?" he asked.

Jill blinked, but nodded and reached into Chris' pocket. She couldn't help but grin as she pulled out the keys and unlocked the door. "That's a new one," she said.

Chris walked into the building and started up the stairs. "A new what?" he asked.

"You know...'hey, can you reach into my pants and get my keys?'...it just sounds like a lame pick-up line," she said.

Chris stopped and stared blankly at her. "That's not why I asked, Jill...my hands are kind of full and I needed your help," he said.

"Oh, you don't have to explain, I know you meant nothing by it," she said with a grin.

Chris shook his head and continued up the stairs. "You're sick," he said. He walked over to their door and waited for Jill to unlock it. He then walked inside and put Claire down on the couch. "Her clothes are soaked," he said.

"So change them?" Jill suggested, putting the keys down on the table next to the door.

Chris looked up at her and sighed. "She'd probably hate me if I did that," he said.

"You're her brother for god sakes!" said Jill. He stared at her desperately, and she finally sighed. "Okay fine, bring her in her room," she said.

"Thanks a bunch, Jill," he said as he picked Claire up again.

Jill followed him to Claire's room and shook her head. "Sure, he'll ask girls to reach into his pants for keys, but he won't change his sick little sister," she said.

"I did NOT ask you to reach into my pants!" he said as he put Claire down on her bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I clearly had to get the keys from a microwave," she said, grinning again.

Chris turned and looked at her. "I'll be waiting outside, just let me know when you're done making fun of me," he said. He turned and walked back out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Jill walked over to Claire's dresser and found a pair of jeans and some socks, then searched the closet to find some random red sweater with a hood. She turned around and saw Claire sitting up in her bed, rubbing her head. "Well good morning," she said. "Feeling better?"

Claire looked over and blinked. "When did I get here?" she asked.

"Well, we were a bit worried when you weren't in the lobby at the station, and I convinced Chris to come check here before sending out a warrant. Of course, I expected you to be asleep, but not outside," she said.

Claire looked down. "Yeah...I got really tired out of nowhere and forgot my keys, so I sat down outside and..," she looked back up to Jill, "how pissed off is Chris?" she asked.

Jill put the pile of clothes down on the bed next to Claire and sat down. "He's not pissed off as much as he's worried...that's the second time you run off without notice, you know," she said.

Claire sighed and flopped back down with her head hitting the pillow. "Yeah..." she said, staring up at the ceiling. "I just wanted to get out of there."

Jill flopped down on the bed next to Claire, staring up at the same spot she was. "So, what exactly happened at the station?" she asked.

"Nothing," Claire said, almost instantly.

Jill grinned. "One thing you and your brother have in common is your both terrible liars...You both suck at hiding it when something's bothering you," she said.

Claire sighed again. "It's just...It's Leon," she said.

Jill sat up. "What did he do?" she asked sternly.

"He didn't do anything...it's what he said," Claire said. "He told that new girl that he was tired of babysitting me."

Jill blinked. "New girl?" she asked.

Claire thought back a bit. "Some Chinese chick," she said.

"Oh, Ada...yeah, didn't get much of an impression from her. When did he tell her that?" asked Jill.

Claire sat up and shrugged. "All I know is he told her he was tired of babysitting some little kid. Oh, and she said she had a date with him," she said. She took off her wet shoes and socks, and put on the dry ones.

"Are you sure? I remember her hitting on Leon, but he told her about you and said no when she asked him out," said Jill.

Claire was sitting on the side of the bed now, changing her jeans. "But she said he was flirting!" she said.

Jill flopped back down on the bed, glaring up at the ceiling. "She's screwing with you, Claire...Leon told her your name and how he really liked you," she said. "That bitch..."

Claire changed her shirt and looked over to Jill. "My name?" she asked. "But, she was talking to me like she had no idea who this 'kid' was...and she knew my name," she said.

"I'm so killing her tomorrow," Jill said between gritted teeth.

Claire grinned and flopped back down next to Jill. "I should've known," she said.

"She thinks she can move into town and take everything from everyone? Well, I plan on making her co-op year a living hell..." said Jill.

Claire turned her head and looked at her. "Thanks," she said.

Jill looked back at her and grinned. "Don't thank me just yet, that bitch has to work with me tomorrow," she said.

They heard a knocking on the door and looked up as Chris poked his head into the room. "Hey?" he asked.

"Hey, wanna join us? We're plotting against that new girl, Ada," said Jill.

Chris walked into the room and looked at them weirdly. "Plotting against Ada? Why, 'cause she was hitting on Leon when she met him?" he asked.

"Basically," said Jill.

Claire sat up and looked at Chris. "Hey, I'm sorry I ran off," she said.

Chris shook his head and sat on the foot of the bed. "I'm guessing it had something to do with Ada then?" he asked. Claire nodded, and he grinned. "Well, I'll pretend it didn't happen, but please...PLEASE call or leave a note next time?" he asked.

Claire smiled. "Promise," she said.

"Ada Wong..." said Jill. "There are way too many jokes there."

Chris looked over to Jill and laughed. "I bet I can think of twice as many as you," he said.

Jill looked up, glaring at him but unable to hold back a grin. "Is that a challenge, Redfield?" she asked.

Chris mirrored her expression and nodded. "For starters, if you pronounce the first name as 'ate-a'..." he said. He saw Jill looked up and mouth the word, and laughed when she did.

"Wow, I'll admit I didn't think of that one!" she said.

"Told you!" said Chris. "And with that, pretend her middle name is 'Huge'."

Jill blinked. "Ate a Huge W...OH!" she said, and started laughing even more. "That's terrible!" she said.

Chris laughed with her. "I know, but it's the first thing I could think of! Got way more, by the way!" he said.

Jill wiped a few tears from her eyes. "Okay, you win! You win! Oh man, I hope I never forget that one!" she said. "We should teach Claire a few of these, she'd love them!"

Chris shook his head. "No more, I don't want to get calls saying she's been saying stuff like that," he said.

Jill nodded in Claire's direction with a grin. Chris looked over and saw that his sister had fallen asleep at some point with her head buried in her pillow. "I don't think she heard any of it, so you're safe," said Jill.

Chris smiled and got off the bed, grabbed the blanket at the foot of her bed, and put it over her. He then looked over to Jill and nodded towards the door. "Let's go, I think she could use the sleep," he said.

Jill nodded and followed Chris out of the room. She closed the door behind her and went over to sit on the couch. "So, does she get up for school on her own or do you need to wake her?" she asked.

Chris shook his head. "I think she can afford to miss another day, being sick and all. I'll call the school tomorrow and deal with it myself. Hell, I think I'll even miss work tomorrow...at this point, Irons can kiss my ass," he said.

Jill nodded. "I'll join you for that. Missing work, I mean," she said, grinning.  
"Okay, so what'd you wanna do?" asked Chris.

Jill shrugged. "Any good movies?" she asked.

Chris blinked. "I meant tomorrow, since we're out of work and Claire's out of school," he said.

"Oh...well, I don't know. I have an idea but we'll have to wait and see what the weather's like tomorrow. But for now, wanna watch a movie?" she asked.

Chris nodded. "Sounds good, but you get to pick it this time. Oh, and just so you know, I don't have any good ones here...you'll have to go rent something," he said.

Jill raised a brow. "What do you mean, I'LL have to go rent something?" she asked.

"Well, we can't both go and leave Claire alone, right? And since I'm leaving the choice up to you, that means you get to go!" said Chris.

"Sounds good," Jill said. "Say, do you like chick-flicks?" she asked, grinning.

"I'm up," said Chris, standing. He grabbed his jacket and walked to the door. "I'll be back soon."

Jill grinned and watched him leave, then put her feet up on the table and sighed. _Better not be another damn Romero..._she thought.


	17. Presents

****Okay, I KNOW it's been like TWENTY YEARS since I've worked on this story, but I was very distracted...and yes, I plan on using that excuse until I die.**

**So, yeah, this chapter is extremely short but I've already thought out the next one so it won't take like five thousand years this time. It's not like people are throwing me motivational cookies or anything! Anyways, hope you like it! And if not, well, too bad 'cause I plan on continuing this story for quite awhile...or at least until I figure out a way to finally end it! YAY!****

****By the way, it helps the story if you keep thinking about that dreaded hip-hop "song", They see me rollin', by some jerk-off claiming to be a musician. THEY'RE WORDS, DUMBASS, IT'S NOT FREAKIN' MUSIC!****

****And yes, I made the intro super long just so I could actually have more text to post online. Sue me, ass.****

Claire was bored. It didn't happen often, but today was different; she was home alone. Leon had school and then co-op, Chris had gone to get pizza about an hour ago, and Jill wasn't answering her phone. So, to pass time, she'd taken out a book and sat on the couch to read it. Now, however, she was upside down on the lounge chair with her head hanging off the side, staring at the blank TV. The book was no longer interesting, and the only entertainment she had was counting how long it took for the blood to rush to her head before she got really dizzy.

Right as she started feeling light-headed, the doorbell rang. Claire cursed and back-flipped off the chair, stood straight, and blinked. The head-rush hit hard, but it only made her laugh as she headed for the door. "Did you forget your key?" she asked.

"I don't have one!" said Jill from the other side.

"Oh," said Claire, opening the door. "Hey! Chris isn't here, but I'm soooo happy you are!" she said.

Jill blinked and walked inside the apartment, carrying three boxes. "Hmm...Should I be worried?" she asked.

Claire shut the door and ran back to the chair. "No, I'm just really bored. He went to get some pizza but it's taking him forever," she said. "What's with the boxes?"

"It's a gift," said Jill, setting the heavy boxes down. She took the one off the top and held it out. "Here."

Claire blinked and took the box, raising a brow. "What is it?" she asked, shaking it slightly.

"I told you, it's a gift. Open the box and see for yourself," said Jill.

"It's going to explode, isn't it!" said Claire, grinning. She lifted the top off slowly and looked inside, then looked back to Jill, her smile fading to slight terror.

Jill frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"These are rollerblades," said Claire.

"...I'm aware of that, but what's wrong?"

Claire shook her head. "I don't know how to use these," she said.  
Jill laughed. "I can teach you, obviously. Does Chris know?" she asked.

"No, but he'll never admit to it."

Claire took off her shoes, which she wore even inside regardless of what Chris said, and slipped the rollerblades on. "It's scary how you know my shoe-size," she said. Jill laughed and watched Claire tie the laces. She then took a deep breath and stood up, never letting go of the chair.

"Maybe you should wait until we're outside?" suggested Jill.

"Nah," said Claire. She grabbed on to various pieces of furniture as she rolled her way to her room. She rolled in for not even a minute and came back out with her gloves and a helmet. "Good thing I used to have a bike," she said, putting on the helmet.

The front door opened and Chris walked in, carrying a pizza box. "I'm back! Sorry I took so long," he said. He shut the door and set the pizza on the counter, then looked back to the living room. "Oh hey Jill, you're here early..." he noticed Claire slouched over the back of the couch and blinked. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying not to fall," she said.

Chris moved a bit so he could see better, and looked down at her feet. "Why are you wearing rollerblades inside?" he asked.

Claire rolled over to the counter without supporting herself on anything. "Because they're new and awesome and I can't get embarrassed as easily in here," she said.

"Well THAT makes sense," said Chris, shrugging. He walked over to the couch and sat down. "So I guess that answers my next question," he said, nodding to the two boxes piled in front of Jill.

Claire opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice, then rolled over to the drawers to get a napkin. Jill looked over and grinned. "Yeah, I thought it'd be something fun to do today," she said. She looked up as Claire hopped on the counter and took a bite out of her pizza while taking off her helmet.

Chris nodded. "That would be fun, and the weather's perfect," he said. "And you wouldn't know just by looking, but I'm a pro on skates."

Jill grinned. "Oh really?" she asked. "I guess you'll have to show me your skills after your lunch."

"Oh speaking of, do you want some pizza? I bought a large so there's plenty," said Chris.

She shook her head. "No thanks, I'm allergic to olives."

Claire looked down at the rest of her slice while she chewed on her current bite. She saw a few olives and threw the slice back in the box, spitting out her bite into a napkin. "What the hell, Chris?" she said.

Chris stood up and went to examine the pizza. "Son of a bitch...I told them NO olives!" he said. He looked up at Claire and sighed. "I'm sorry...I should've checked."

"It's fine, I didn't actually eat any," she said. She looked over to Jill and grinned. "Nice save."

Jill blinked. "You too, huh?" she said. "Well if you guys want, we could go skating and stop at that pizza place along the way? How far is it?" she asked.

"Screw them, let's go to the one just over the bridge," said Chris.

"Alright, let's go!" said Claire, hopping off the counter. As she hit the floor the skates rolled out from under her, but she caught herself on the counter.

Chris shook his head. "Put your helmet back on, dork," he said. He walked over to Jill and she handed him the box with his rollerblades.

"Don't forget your own helmet, dude," said Jill with a grin.

Chris sighed and headed to his room. He grabbed his old bike helmet and elbow pads, and headed back into the living room. He stuck the helmet on his head and threw the elbow pads to Claire. "And don't even dare argue against me," he said.

Of course, Claire had been ready to protest, but simply sighed and put them on. "Ever so caring," she said. Once she finished, she clapped her gloved hands and smiled. "Now can we go?" she asked.

Chris watched Jill put her helmet on and stand, and looked back to Claire. "I guess so," he said.

Claire grinned and rolled to the door, opened it, and rolled out into the hallway. Chris and Jill chased after her in panic. "Stairs, idiot!" yelled Chris.

They reached the hall and looked down, seeing Claire standing in the elevator smiling. "Elevators, dumbass," she said as the door closed and the elevator made a 'ding' sound, indicating it was going down.


	18. Test Drive

****Hello again! I realize it's been a LONG time since I've updated this fic...But I've been so very distracted, with work and what not. I've also started a few other fics that I hope will pick up as well as this one did ****. Anyways! Thanks for reading, and thanks especially for being so patient! I'll try and update more often from now on! Enjoy!****

Claire concentrated on standing straight while Jill and Chris sat on the steps to the apartment building, lacing the rollerblades. She tried adjusting her helmet, but every movement cause her to lose balance. "I don't think this is such a great idea," she said.

Chris looked up. "But you were doing so well inside," he said. He watched her wobble around when she wasn't even moving, and felt a sudden fear. A small voice inside was telling him that he'd be worse, and would make a complete ass of himself.

Jill finished lacing and stood up, rolling over to Claire. "It's easy, really. The trick is to forget you're on wheels and imagine that you're just gliding around on a slippery surface. And if you feel like you're going too fast, do this..." She rolled ahead a bit then lifted her skate so the guard on the back skidded and made her stop. "Brakes," she said.

Claire nodded, and tried it. She felt a bit nervous at first, but managed to stop without losing her balance. "Wow, that is easy," she said.

"But of course, Chris could've told you that right?" Jill grinned, looking to Chris. He was still sitting, and looking up at her in shock.

"Y...yeah, I could've, but you're better at putting things into words," he said, smiling.

Jill laughed. "Well I'm not sure how to word-out an explanation for turning, so could you just show her?" she said.

Chris sighed and stood up slowly. "Okay fine! I've never rollerbladed! There, happy now?" he said.

Still laughing, Jill rolled back to Claire looked at Chris. "Once you know how to stop, you're basically set," she said.

Chris rolled over slowly towards Jill, then turned and started rolling in a wide circle, slowly getting the hang of it. He turned towards Jill again and hit his brakes too fast, falling forward. Two steady hands caught his, and he looked up to see his partner smiling.

"Gotcha," she said.

He smiled back and stood straight. "Thanks, I thought I was doomed," he replied.

"Will you guys get a room?" said Claire. They looked up to her and she shook her head, rolling away from them.

"Wow, you guys catch on quick," said Jill, blushing slightly. She let go of Chris' hands and they followed Claire. "Do you even know where you're going?" she asked.

"It's the bridge at the park," Chris called to Claire.

"I know!" said Claire, gaining speed and rolling around the corner.

Jill watched her go and grinned. "She's getting pretty good, you might have to get a leash," she said.

"You know, my dad said the same thing to my mom when Claire first started walking," said Chris.

They both kept quiet for awhile, and Jill couldn't help but smile. If it had been her, the memory would've triggered some sort of sadness, and possibly tears. Chris, however, was watching his sister and half-smiling. "I bet it's good to remember, huh?" she finally said.

Chris looked over to her and blinked, but nodded. "It's been tough," he said.

After a few blocks, Claire started feeling tired. She'd let Chris and Jill pass her, and followed them when they took turns and shortcuts. She looked past them and saw the bridge over the river. She blinked and sped up a bit, catching up to the others. "Um, guys? That bridge is all downhill..." she said.

Jill glanced back. "Yeah, but don't worry about it. Keep your knees slightly bent, and just go with it. It'll be over before you know it, and we can take a break after," she said.

"That's what she said," said Chris with a grin.

Jill punched him in the arm, but they both laughed. Claire shook her head, still feeling uneasy. They reached the bridge and she watched them zoom down like a couple of professional alpine-skiers at the Olympics. Her own speed picked up, and she could feel the wind hitting her face as she started the descent. It was all too fast, so she tried the brake trick Jill had shown her. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective downhill, and she ended up losing control.

No longer going in a straight line, Claire yelled as she headed right for a pedestrian. The boy turned around just in time to see her come crashing into him. The speed caused her to push him right over the railing, and they both fell into the river.

/

Claire swam up to the surface and shook her head, looking up. People were yelling and looking down into the river, and she felt embarrassed and awkward. _At least the bridge isn't so high,_ she thought.

"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?" asked an aggravating voice. "Trying to kill me?"

Claire turned and looked at the young boy swimming next to her. "It was an accident, asshole!" she said.

The boy paused, looking at her intently. He was glaring, but Claire could see a hint of smirking. "How the hell do you _accidentally_ push someone off a bridge?" asked the boy.

Claire had to rely on her arms to stay above the surface of the water, since the rollerblades were weighing her down and making it impossible to kick. "I lost control, okay? And you wouldn't be down here if you'd just moved when I yelled at you!" she said.

"You didn't yell at me!"  
"Yes I did! I said WATCH OUT! Dumbass," said Claire, sighing.

The boy splashed water in her face. "You're the dumbass who should learn to skate before going downhill, dumbass," he said, mocking her.

Claire splashed water back at him, dunking under the water but resurfacing right away. "I'll drown you!" she said.

The boy frowned. "Looks more like you'll drown yourself...Maybe we should get out of here," he said. Claire was surprised by his sudden change of attitude, but nodded.

"CLAIRE!" yelled Chris from the top of the bridge. She looked up and sighed. "ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Who's that?" asked the boy as he started swimming towards the river-bank.

Claire followed him, still using only her arms. "My brother...stupid jerk started down the hill and didn't even wait up for me," she said.

The boy grabbed onto the bank and looked back at her. "You could so blame this on him," he said.

Claire started laughing, dunking under the water again. The boy grabbed her arm and pulled her to the bank, only letting go once she caught the side. She looked at him and smiled. "Thanks, and you're right...this is totally his fault," she said. She watched him climb out, and he held his arm out to her. She smiled again and took it, letting him help her out of the bank.  
In less than half a minute, Chris and Jill were at the bank, Chris removing his skates in no time and kneeling by his sister. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt? How's your head? Did you swallow any water? If you feel dizzy, let me know, you might be disoriented! Say something!" Chris said. He blinked, feeling himself topple over as Claire pushed him into the river. He surfaced and blinked. "WHAT THE HELL?" he yelled.

"Chris...shut up," said Claire.

Jill laughed, helping Claire with her rollerblades. "Maybe that hill was too steep for the first time out. Are you okay?" she asked, simply and calmly.

Claire nodded, and smiled to the boy. "He's an ass, but he helped me out," she said.

The boy shot them a snobby grin of self-pride. "My name's Steve," he said.

Jill eyed him carefully then looked back to Claire. "You're just surrounded by chivalry, aren't you?" she said, grinning.

"What do you mean?" asked Claire, confused.

Jill sighed and returned her attention to Chris as he climbed out of the river. "How's the water?" she asked, immediately regretting asking the question when she saw Chris' face. He leaned forward, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the water.

"You tell me," he said, grinning.

Jill shook her head, water dripping from her hair. "C...Cold," she said. She looked up at Chris and glared. She swam to the side, letting herself get pulled out by Claire and Steve. "Wow Chris, you're such a bitch," said Claire.

"I thought I told you to watch your mouth," warned Chris, giving her a stern glare.

"As much as I hate to interfere, she's right," said Jill.

Chris frowned. "You guys are kind of mean when you're together," he said.

"You pulled me in, which in my mind makes you a bitch," said Jill with a grin. She could tell Chris was about to get upset, so she gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm just kidding around, don't cry okay?" she said.

Chris was about to protest, but instead he laughed and returned the friendly punch. "It takes much more than words to make me cry," he said. He noticed Claire and Steve standing, and did the same. "So...Steve, huh?" he asked.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Here we go," she said.  
Steve stood up, smiling. "Yeah, I'm Steve," he said. "I'm the one who saved your stupid sister from the river, so maybe you should be nicer."

Chris walked over and slammed his hand on the boy's back. "You're right, I owe you one," he said.

Jill pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, sighing. "Great job, Chris, you killed my phone," she said. She held it up and it was dripping water.

"Are you sure? Most cell phones are waterproof, you know," he said.

Claire pulled out hers and started typing out a text message. "Mine seems fine," she said.

Jill shook her phone a bit. "I'll try it out but I don't think it'll w-", with perfect timing, the phone started ringing. Jill blinked, staring at it, and finally flipped it open. "Hello?" she said.

Irons' voice boomed through the receiver, making Jill wish the phone had died after all. "_Valentine, what the hell are you doing? I've been trying to reach you all day!"_ he said.

Jill sighed. "What can I do for you, sir?" she asked.

"_I've got too much work to be done for you and Redfield to be calling in sick every damn day! Get your ass to the station! Redfield too!" _said Irons.

"I, uh, don't know where he is, sir," said Jill, looking up at Chris. He caught the look and made sure not to say anything.

"_Well, try and find him then! As long as I've got one of you down here, I don't care!"_ said Irons.

"What exactly do you need me to do?" she asked.

Irons paused, probably trying to think of the best way to sound like an asshole. "_I have paperwork and I'm not sitting here to do it all when my officers are running around town doing God knows what!"_ he said.

Knowing there was no use arguing, Jill sighed. "I'll be in as soon as I can," she said. She hung up and looked at Chris. "You're safe," she said.

"That's not fair, I'll go in with you," he said.

Jill shook her head. "No, take the day and have fun. Go for your cheeseburgers or something. I'll just go to the station, make an appearance and the second he forgets I'm even there, I'll slip back out and meet up with you guys," she said, smiling.

Chris sighed and nodded. "We'll grab something to eat once you're free," he said.

"Sounds good, your treat I hope?" said Jill, grinning.

"Of course it's his treat!" said Claire, nudging her brother. "It always is!"

Chris glared at her, but couldn't hold back a smile. "Sure, my treat, just give us a call when you're done," he said.

Jill nodded. "Well I'd better go now, before Captain greasy fatty calls me back," she said.

They all laughed, only Claire looked disgusted. "Seriously, ew...that man looks like he should be a McDonald's manager," she said.

"I'll see you guys later," said Jill, trying not to laugh. She turned and walked away, already anticipating having the work done and leaving.


	19. Hearts

****Special thanks goes to Crutis, for helping me remember the word 'observant'. He saved the fic!****

Chris was lying on the couch, bored as hell. It had been three hours and Jill still hadn't called. He'd spent about an hour staring at the TV, then tried reading a book but couldn't keep concentrated, and finally just decided to sit and think. He thought about stuff he could suggest to Jill once she got off work, what to eat for dinner, how boring his life was before she'd joined the RPD, and for some reason he thought strongly about muffins. His mind focused on Jill, but kept sending him the mental image of a gigantic chocolate chip muffin, and it made him hungry.

"Dude, still alive in there?"

Chris blinked and looked up. Claire was waving her hand in front of his face with a concerned expression. "Sorry, what?" he said.

"Finally, I've been trying to snap you out of it for around ten minutes. What were you doing, meditating?" asked Claire.

Chris sat up straight, shaking his head. "I was just thinking," he said.

"About Jill?" asked Claire, though she already knew the answer.

He shook his head. "About muffins," he said. "Do we have stuff to make muffins?"

Claire stared at him for nearly a minute before she burst out laughing. "How the hell should I know?" she said. She leaned forward and grabbed a box off the table. It made Chris wonder just how long he'd been sitting there, thinking.

"What's that?" he asked.

Claire looked at him and grinned. "It's...an early birthday present," she said. "I made it myself."

"Aren't you a little old for macaroni pictures? Besides, my birthday's not for another month, and yours comes first," said Chris.

She shoved the box on his lap and sat next to him. "I couldn't wait, it's pretty amazing if I say so myself," she said.

Uncertain, Chris began opening the box slowly. "Is it gonna explode?" he asked.

"No," said Claire, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Okay, here goes!" said Chris. He lifted the top of the box and looked inside, suddenly realizing why Claire was so anxious. He looked over to her, and could tell she was holding back from laughing herself to tears. "You made this yourself?" he asked.

"Well, not the shirt itself, but I wrote what's on it," she said.

"And you got that from...?"

"My head."

"I see..." said Chris, looking back into the box. He read the message three times, and finally started laughing. "I'm so going down to the station wearing this," he said.

Claire's face lit up. "Do it! Oh, lift the shirt, there's more!" she said.

Chris looked back down and took the shirt out of the box. There was also a pair of boxers, which were black with pink hearts. Of course, the shirt was pink as well, so he knew he'd make a complete ass of himself if he actually wore that to his workplace. "No way, it's too much," he said.

"Oh come on, it'll be hilarious! And I bet Jill would like it, which could help your chances with her," said Claire, grinning once again.

Chris glared at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said.

"Chris, come on...I'm not stupid."

"...Am I that obvious?" he asked.

Claire laughed. "Not to any random person, no...But I know you, and I noticed you've been acting different since she started working with you," she said.

"Different? How so?" asked Chris.

"You seem happier," said Claire.

Chris watched her as she got up and headed to the kitchen. She got a soda out of the fridge, and stared at the inside of the fridge while sipping the drink. He smiled, realizing just how smart and observant she was, to notice the small details that nobody else would notice.

"Dude, we need groceries."

Chris sighed. "So go get some," he said.

She turned her head and looked at him. "With what money?" she asked.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, took out his American Express card, and held it up. "Here, but I want a receipt and don't get too much junk food," he said.

Claire walked over and grabbed the card. "Any request?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm probably going out somewhere tonight anyways. If I'm not home when you get back, leave the card on my bedside table...I'll need it later," said Chris. He got up and headed for his room.

Claire started putting her shoes on, grinning. "Going on a date tonight?" she asked.

"None of your business...and I hope so," he said. "What are you doing today?"

She grabbed her jacket from the hanger and zipped it up, then shrugged. "Dunno, maybe hanging out with Leon," she said.

"Um, no you're not...I told you, only if someone else is around," said Chris.

"Someone else being you or Jill...and you're both gonna be busy!" argued Claire.

"Claire, that was my condition and you agreed to it," he said.

Claire sighed. "Okay, how about a deal?" she asked.

Chris folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the door-frame. "I'll probably say no, but go ahead and try," he said.

"Well, I dare you to ask Jill out WHILE wearing the shirt I got you. IF she says yes even after that, then I get to hang out with Leon whenever I want, with no supervision. If she says no, then I'll stick to your conditions and rules, and never give you gifts again," said Claire. She folded her arms as well and mimicked him, leaning against the door.

Chris thought about the dare, wondering if it was wise to play along. He knew the odds that Jill would say yes were very low, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to agree to Claire's terms in case Jill said yes. Finally, he sighed and nodded. "You're on," he said.

Claire smiled. "Since I'll win this anyways...Could I call Leon and ask him to help me with the groceries? He doesn't have to come back here after or anything, but I really don't like doing them alone. It's lame, and pretty boring," she said.

"How can you be so sure she'll say yes?" asked Chris.

She shrugged. "I just know," she said.

Chris sighed again. "Okay fine, call Leon...but don't take too long, don't get too much, and call me when you're home," he said. He turned and walked into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Claire grinned and pulled her phone out. She dialled Leon's number on her way out of the apartment building, simultaneously making a mental list of what to get from the grocery store.

* * *

Chris walked down the hall of the RPD, heading for Jill's office. He'd gotten past the receptionist without a problem. Of course, he was wearing jogging pants over the boxers, and a jacket to hide the t-shirt, so nobody could tell he was up to something weird. He still wasn't sure why he'd agreed to this, and hoped that Jill would see the humour in it and not run off with a transfer to another city.

He got to her door and took in a deep breath before knocking. There was no answer, so he slowly opened the door and looked inside. It was empty, but there was half a cup of coffee still steaming on Jill's desk. She was probably at the washroom or talking with Irons.

"Perfect," said Chris as he walked in and shut the door. He looked around, trying to think of the best way to do this. He imagined imitating the Captain Morgan's pose, but knew it would be a disaster if he did that in boxers. Then the thought of lying across the desk came to mind, but Jill wouldn't be able to read the shirt, and THEN he'd just look like an idiot. Finally, he decided to just clear a spot on the desk and sit there. He took the jacket and jogging pants off, throwing them on the floor, and hopped on the desk. He put one hand down to support him while the other was on his hip, and sighed. "Claire, I hate you so much right now..." he said in a low voice.

Chris looked up fast when he heard footsteps coming towards the door. He took in another deep breath, and when the door began opening he let his message out.

* * *

Jill dried her hands and walked out of the washroom, sighing. Her day had been really boring, and the only person she'd seen other than Irons was the receptionist, and even she didn't seem to like her that much. She shrugged and headed back down the hall towards the offices.

"Hey Jill!" said Forrest, coming up behind her. "You're stuck here too?"

Jill turned around and smiled. "Oh thank God I'm not alone! Yeah, Irons called me in to do some stupid paperwork again. Does he ever do his own work?" she asked.

Forrest laughed. "The only thing he can do right here is hire competent officers who can do his work for him. He's not a good Chief, but at least he's not around all the time," he said.

"That's true. So what are you up to?" asked Jill, walking down the hall towards her door with him following.

He shrugged. "Barely halfway done my work, so I thought I'd take a walk to avoid the distractions of my office," he said, grinning.

"Isn't taking a walk an even bigger distraction?" asked Jill, laughing.

Forrest shook his head. "If I'm distracted in the office, I could end up writing something sloppy on my work. This way, I'm not taking any chances, being so far away from the work. It makes sense if you think about it," he said.

Jill laughed again. "Only if you're you, Forrest," she said. She grabbed the handle and looked back to him. "If you'd like to hide from distractions a bit longer, I wouldn't mind the company. I'm trying to get everything done and get the hell out of here, at least before the sun goes down," she said.

Forrest nodded. "That's understandable," he said.

Jill smiled again and opened the door. She nearly jumped back when someone shouted "Will you go out with me?" the moment the door was opened. She and Forrest walked in and the first thing they saw was Chris sitting on the desk. He looked like he was trying to pose like a model, in boxers with hearts, and a pretty tight pink t-shirt that said 'I have a heart-on for Valentine's day', clearly handwritten. And to match all the pink, Chris' face was beet-red.

Jill was paralyzed in confusion, but Forrest took a step forward, somehow keeping back from laughing. "Oh man...I've been waiting a long time for you to ask me that!" he said. "Of course I will!"

Chris had a highly terrified look on his face, unsure of what to do next. He hadn't expected anyone to be with Jill, and suddenly felt like he hated his sister.

"Um...Chris, what the hell are you doing?" asked Jill, looking nearly as embarrassed and terrified as he was.

He shook his head. "It wasn't supposed to be like that," he said. He looked back up. "Forrest, why are you here?"

Forrest grinned. "I have amazing timing for taking breaks...but I think I should head back," he said.

Chris jumped off the desk. "Dude, this does NOT leave this office..." he said.

"Relax, bud, I know it's not my place to tell this hilarious story," said Forrest, grinning. "Besides, if I tell everyone now, I won't have anything to say for my best-man's speech at the wedding." He turned and walked out of the office, laughing.

Jill stared at the door, afraid to turn around. "You're insane, you know that?" she said.

"...I know. I know it's all crazy, and stupid, and probably embarrassing...but I don't care. I like you, and I decided to go for it, no matter how insane it makes me look. So, will you?" he asked.

Jill turned around, doing her best not to laugh at the boxers. "Will I what?" she asked.

Chris turned red again. "Will you go out with me?" he asked.

She stared at him, a slight grin on her face. "You think that after seeing you dressed like a complete moron, sitting like a model on my desk, at work, that I'd still say yes?" she asked.

Chris shook his head, looking down. "No, I thought you'd throw something at me and kick my ass," he said. He reached down and picked up his clothes, slipping the jacket back on.

Jill grinned. "Well I guess you don't know me well enough yet," she said. She walked over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then quickly sat on her chair and looked down at her paperwork.

Chris stood there, jacket half-zipped, staring ahead. "Wait...what?" he said.

Jill looked back up with a smile. "I'll call you when I'm done my work," she said.

"So...is that a yes?" asked Chris, suddenly anxious.

"Yes, Chris, now put your pants on and get out of my office," said Jill, grinning.

Chris' face lit up instantly. He didn't know how to react, so he quickly slipped the jogging pants on and ran out of the office, nearly laughing. Jill watched him go, then shook her head and pulled her phone out. She typed in a text message saying 'Nice work on the t-shirt, Picasso' and sent it to Claire. She had a feeling the girl would be bouncing off the walls when the news reached her.


	20. Steve

Steve waved his arms back and forth as he walked down the street, swinging the grocery bags around. He'd expected to be bored as hell when his father forced him to tag along for groceries, but then he ran into Claire at the store. When he'd first met her earlier that day, he thought she was an irresponsible girl who'd never go anywhere without her brother, but seeing her in that store changed his opinion; she was more responsible than he was. And she looked bored herself...

"_Hey, remember me?" said Steve, sliding up to Claire's shopping cart._

_She looked at him and sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. What are you doing here?" she asked._

"_My dad dragged me down here, said I needed to help out with errands. Are you alone?" asked Steve._

"_Yeah, my brother had stuff of his own to do, and Leon didn't answer his phone," said Claire._

_Steve raised a brow. "Leon, huh? Is he your boyfriend or something?" he asked. Claire nodded, which somehow surprised Steve. "You look kind of young to have a boyfriend."_

"_And you look kind of old to be dragged around by your daddy," snapped Claire. To her surprise, Steve laughed._

"_He just didn't want me to be sitting at home all day playing video games. Hey, maybe he'll let me hang out with you instead of being here!" he said._

"_Don't you have school or something?" asked Claire, pushing the nearly empty cart towards the checkout._

_Steve grinned. "I had a dentist appointment, so I got off school for the whole day. It's where I was going this morning before you ran into me. What about you, huh, don't YOU have school?" he asked, still grinning._

_Claire shrugged. "My brother called the school to give me the day off. I was sleeping, so I don't really know why he decided to. Just went along with it I guess," she said._

"_So, you wanna hang out?" asked Steve._

"_Why would I want to hang out with you? You were kind of a dick this morning, and no offense but what are you, ten?" asked Claire._

_Steve glared at her. "I'm twelve, and I wasn't being a dick...Look, please hang out with me? I'm bored of being around my dad and he won't mind, I know it! Besides, there's this awesome place I could show you," he said..._

And so, Claire had agreed to hang out with Steve. He hadn't said what exactly he wanted to show her, which left her more intrigued. They now walked towards this apparently awesome place, both of them being awkwardly quiet.

"So..." said Claire, trying to break the silence.

Steve looked over. "It's not too far now. Oh by the way, what happened to your arm?" he asked, glancing at the bandage.

Claire looked down and sighed. "Got into a fight," she said.

"Cool!" said Steve. He caught a glare from her and grinned. "Hey, I was just kidding, it probably sucked. Stitches?" he asked.

"Yeah, three," said Claire, sighing. "Are we almost there?"

Steve looked out in the distance. "Almost, yeah," he said.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Claire.

"It's a surprise," said Steve.

Claire stopped walking. "I will kill you, Steve," she said.

He laughed. "Okay okay! I found this field behind those woods, where an actual war happened! Pieces of tanks, landmines, and bullet casings everywhere! It's so awesome!" he said.

"Landmines? That doesn't sound really safe," said Claire.

"Oh relax, they've swept them all a long time ago, there's really nothing to worry about!" said Steve. Claire sighed and followed him towards the woods, glancing back at the fading civilisation behind them. "Is it really far? It looks like it's getting late," she said.

"It's right on the other side, not far at all. And calm down, it's not late at all," said Steve.

They walked through the woods for nearly ten minutes. Claire was convinced they were lost since she hadn't seen a path, but before she could say anything they reached a clearing like Steve had said. They walked out into the open field, a shiver going down her spine. "I never knew about this place," said Claire.

Steve set the groceries down and walked over to a rusted piece of metal. "I know, it's so hidden and awesome! Hey, this looks like a piece of a tank!" he said, picking up the metal piece. "There's a bunch all around here!"

Claire set her bags down as well and walked over to another piece of metal. She saw the logo for Jeep, and grinned. This wasn't a battlefield; it was a well-secluded place for people to have demolition derbies. She looked back to Steve and noticed he was standing on a partially buried hub-cap. _Perfect,_ she thought. She let the piece of metal drop down and put on her most worried expression.

Steve noticed. "What?" he asked.

"Don't...move..." said Claire.

"What? Why?"

Claire looked at his feet. "You're standing on a landmine..." she said.

"WHAT?" Steve yelled, looking down.

Claire threw her arms up. "DON'T MOVE! If you shift your weight the slightest bit, it'll go off! Just...don't move..." she said.

Steve was in tears now. "What do I do! DO SOMETHING!" he yelled.

"I will! I'll, um, call my brother! He can send help, or tell me what to do! Just don't move!" said Claire. She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, not even bothering to dial anything. She set it to her ear and did her best not to laugh. "Chris! Thank God! Okay, here's the deal. Steve stepped on a landmine and now we have no idea what to do!" she said, looking up at Steve and nodded. "No, Steve, you met him this morning after we fell in the river. Yes, you were there, Chris. Okay...Yeah, I know. So, what do I do about Steve? What? What do you mean it has a time-limit? I don't know, about a minute or so now...WHAT? NO!" Claire shouted and threw her phone to the ground. She threw herself on the ground, shielding her head.

Steve screamed and did the same, then waited for the excessive pain of his legs being blown off. He waited, but nothing happened. He looked up and saw Claire on the ground, holding her sides, laughing hysterically. He glared and got up slowly, brushing off the dirt.

"That wasn't funny," he said.

Claire sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It so was! You should've seen your face!" she said.

Steve got up and kicked the hub-cap, then walked towards the woods. "I'm going home," he said.

_Great, fit kid,_ thought Claire. She sat there and watched him walk away. "Oh come on, Steve, it was just a joke. Like you'd leave me here with all those groceries," she said.

Steve kept walking.

"Hey! You brought me all the way out here, I expected you to PLAN on having fun," she called out to him, still laughing a bit. "Come on, admit it, it was hilarious!"

Steve stepped between the trees and was no longer in sight. Alarmed, Claire stood up. "Steve?" she called out. She started towards the woods, looking down at the groceries as she walked past them. "Steve, wait up, I'm sorry!" she said. She got to the woods and saw Steve walking away. Relieved, she started following him but stopped and looked down. "Shit, my phone!" she said. She looked up at Steve once more, sighed, and turned back towards the opening, running for her phone. She got to her knees and looked around, sighing. It was slowly getting dark out, which made it harder to find the phone. When she finally found it, she got up and ran back to the woods, not even bothering with the groceries. She had to catch up to Steve before it got too dark, or things could get bad.


	21. Encore

****Yeah...There isn't much to say. I planned on writing a lot more, but I've been once again busy as hell and didn't have the chance. This chapter is SUPER short, and took SOOOO long to do, and I feel ashamed for the both of us! .O If I have any regular-readers on this fic, I'm really sorry for the delay! I'll work harder from now on, I hope!**

**Also, don't hate me if this chapter doesn't have much going on, I've been at a total block on this story but didn't want to ditch it altogether, so I had a slight filler moment. Hope you like O.o****

Chris parked his car in the street and sighed, smiling. Dinner with Jill had been great, and he'd dropped her off at home convinced they'd both had a great time. He had expected everything to be very awkward, but when Jill said she couldn't wait until they did it again, everything lit up. He couldn't wait to get inside and tell Claire. It was late, but tomorrow was Saturday so he'd wake her up if he had to. He was happy.

Chris got out of the car and walked to the apartment, lost in his thoughts. He went up the stairs and to his door, humming. He opened the door and walked in with a smile, which faded as soon as he noticed the empty shoe-mat. He looked to the other side but there was nothing. "Shit...not again," he said.

He ran to Claire's room and opened the door, hoping she'd just gone straight there without taking her boots off again, but cursed when he saw the empty room. He pulled his phone out and called hers, waiting impatiently while it rang. He got the answering machine and nearly crushed his phone. "Hey, it's me, where are you? And why aren't you picking up? Call me as soon as you get this!" he said in the message, and hung up.

Chris began pacing back and forth, holding his phone. _Come on, come on..._ he thought. He jumped when the door behind him swung open, and before he completely turned around Claire had him in a strong hug-hold.

"Don't be mad!" she said.

Chris took in a deep breath, trying to decide if he should be or not. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be," he said.

"Because it wasn't my fault and I'm really sorry," said Claire.

"You weren't home, you didn't leave a note, you didn't answer your phone...You were supposed to be at the grocery store," said Chris. He looked down and sighed. "I don't see any groceries."

Claire tightened her grip on the hug. "It was Steve's fault, he wanted to show me something and then ditched me in the middle of nowhere, and I got lost in the woods, and left the groceries there and lost my phone somewhere but didn't wanna go back 'cause I knew I'd be even later, and I found a pay phone but didn't have change so I couldn't call you, and I knew you'd either be freaking out or really mad so once I got out of the woods I started running and-"

Chris put his arms around her and returned the hug, sighing again. "Okay okay, I get it, you're off the hook. I was just really worried, you know?" he said.

"I know."

"So, tell me then," he said. He pulled back from the hug and went to sit on the arm-rest of the couch. "What exactly did Steve do and how badly do I have to kill him?" he asked.

Claire was mad, but couldn't hold back a slight grin. She explained everything starting at the grocery store, leading to the run home. Chris seemed to understand, and didn't look angry, so she made sure not to leave out any details. Once her story reached the end, she sat on the floor and took off her boots. "And then he just ran off," she said.

Chris nodded. "Well, I understand why he'd be so upset, but how could he not know the difference between a landmine and a hub-cap?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe he's an idiot," she said.

"No kidding. Well, I think it's time for bed, don't you?" asked Chris, grinning. "And tomorrow, I'll go look for your phone while you're in school."

"Tomorrow's Saturday, Chris," said Claire as she headed for her room.

"Oh right...Well we could go together then," he said, smiling. He watched as she turned to look at him, sighed, and walked into her room. She shut the door behind her, and it was Chris' turn to sigh. "Well, goodnight then," he said. He started for his room but was stopped when his phone rang. "Oh, come on!" he said. He answered it with a deep breath. "Yes?"

"_Get down here, now!"_ said Irons.

"Why, what's going on?" Chris asked, instantly wishing he hadn't.

"_Just get down here as fast as you can. I've already contacted Valentine, and if I recall you live closer so you'd better get here before she does!"_ said the chief right before hanging up.

Chris stared at his phone, confused. _That was weird,_ he thought. He shook his head and walked over to Claire's room, knocked, and waited.

The door opened and she stood there in her pyjamas. "What?" she asked, sounding more annoyed than tired.

"I have to go to work, so do you think you'll be okay on your own for the night?" he asked, already knowing her answer.

"What happened?" she asked.

Chris shrugged. "Boss-man says I have to get down there, and he actually sounds like he's got more than just last-minute paperwork to make us do, so I have no idea what it's all about. I'll leave my phone with you, so call me at the station if you need anything, okay?" he said.

Claire nodded, looking uneasy. "I planned on going to sleep anyways, so I don't think I'll need your help for anything," she said.

He shoved the phone in her hand. "In case of an emergency, smart-ass," he said, grinning.

Claire smiled and nodded again. "Got it, no calling for pillow-fluffing," she said. "Do you know when you'll be back?"

Chris shook his head. "I'll leave you a text from Jill's phone if it's something that'll take more than a few hours, but don't worry about it. Just make sure the bolt on the door is locked, and all the windows are closed. Sleep well, and I'll see you in the morning," he said.

"If you wake me up before ten, I'll kill you," said Claire with a smile.

Chris leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Go to bed, you little freak," he said.

She followed him out to the door and said goodbye once more before locking the door behind him. After checking the bolt and all the windows, she looked around the living room and smile. "Like I'm actually going to sleep when I have the whole place to myself," she said out-loud. She headed to her room, grabbed her book, and came back out to sit on the couch, and began reading.

****If you're reading this, I love you. I'm using the bottom of this chapter's page to make an announcement. I'm attempting something I've seen many times and always wanted to do but never bothered; I'm writing my own parody-version of some of the canon games in the series. I've been working on RE2, and will release a kind of pilot-chapter soon enough, to see what people think. If anyone thinks releasing it online is a stupid idea, cause of how stupid most of my ideas are (just read the fics and you'll get why I said it), please let me know somehow. I've gotten a bad review on one of my favourite stories and never bothered to keep working on it, so I'd like to know what people think of this idea BEFORE I post it and make an ass of myself again. THANKS! ^_^ Lots of muffins!****


	22. Slipups

*****Note: That was the LONGEST TIME anyone's had to wait on me, and I'm really REALLY sorry! I promise I won't just put this up here and leave you guys hanging (if anyone's still reading)...I will put more work into it from now on, and hopefully keep running with the idea before I lose it again **

**Thanks again for the patience, and I really wish I could buy you guys cookies for making you wait! XD*****

* * *

Chris stepped into his apartment, sighed, and tossed his keys on the kitchen counter. He kicked off his shoes and walked over to the couch. He checked his watch for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, and let himself fall backwards on the couch.

"Ow!"

Chris quickly sat up and turned, seeing Claire curled up under a blanket. "Oh...Hey, sorry I didn't see you there. Why are you out here?" he asked.

Claire pulled the blanket up higher and rubbed her eyes. "I was reading, guess I fell asleep," she said.

Chris checked his watch again, yawned, and fell back against Claire again, careful not to hurt her this time.

She took his wrist and looked at his watch. "Dude...it's seven? You worked all night?" she asked.

"Yup."  
"You've never worked all night! Did something happen?" she asked.

Chris sighed. "I'm not supposed to talk about police business," he said.

"That's never stopped you before."  
Chris sat up again and turned to look at her. "Since when do you care anyways? You never show interest in what I have to say, but suddenly when I don't want to tell you, you can't stop asking?" he asked. He caught her blank stare and sighed, put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it...But this time it's really serious, and I don't wanna freak you out."

Claire sighed. "I like being freaked out, makes stuff more interesting. Besides, the worst thing you've ever told me was when some drunken guy passed out in front of the mall," she said.

Chris grinned. "Yeah, that was pretty funny," he said.

Claire looked at him. "So, you absolutely won't tell me?"

"Nope."  
She leaned on his shoulder. "Great," she said.

"Hey, you know those woods you were playing in with Steve yesterday?" asked Chris.

"Yeah?"  
"Don't ever go back in there."

Claire pulled away from him quickly. "Why not?" She asked, even more intrigued now.

"Just promise me you won't go back there," said Chris.

"Chris, just tell me!" said Claire.

"No."

Claire grabbed the blanket and tossed it on him, stood up, and started fixing her messed up ponytail. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to go there and find out what's so bad," she said.

"Sit down, Claire."

She grinned and folded her arms. "Not until you tell me what's so bad about the woods," she said.

"Well I'm not telling you, and if I find out you were anywhere close to those woods..." he trailed off.

Claire noticed the serious look on his face and sat down. "Chris?"

He shook his head. "Yeah, sorry...I think I'm just really tired, all-nighter, you know?" he said.

"You don't sound tired, you sound disturbed...or freaked out, or something," said Claire.

Chris shrugged. He grabbed the cushion and used it as a pillow. "I'm gonna try and sleep a bit, do you think you can keep yourself out of trouble today?" he asked.

"I'm not five, Chris."  
"I know...Go see Leon, or Steve or something. If you're hungry, go to Emmy's, I'm sure they won't mind if you have a lunch and I pay them next time I see them," said Chris.

Claire stared blankly at him. He was obviously disturbed by something, since he was voluntarily letting her hang out with Leon, but she wasn't about to start an argument for it. "Okay then...I have my cell, call me if you need me," she said. She got up and headed to the door, grabbed her boots, and looked back.

Chris was already asleep, but she knew he wouldn't freak out if she was gone when he woke up. _He has my number,_ she thought. She put on her boots and left the apartment, locking the door behind her. First, she'd go find Leon and see if he was up for a free brunch at Emmy's. Then, she'd force him to come up with a plan for ways to spend the day. As curious as she was, she had no intention of going near those woods before Chris gave her the go. If there was something out there bad enough to scare her brother, she didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Leon sat in the usual booth at Emmy's, waiting for Claire. He'd been out for a morning jog when she called, and luckily his route brought him right by the diner, so he cut it short for the day.

He read the menu over and over, trying to decide on what to have. He heard the bell go off for the door and looked up to see Claire walk in. He'd expected her to be dragging her feet, half asleep, with bags under her eyes. But no, she was wide awake, hopping over to the bar, with an actual smile on her face.

"Hey," she said.

Leon returned the smile. "Morning," he said, "had a good night, did you?"

Her smile faded. "What do you mean?" she asked. She sat in the booth across from him and put her backpack down.

"Well, you seem cheerful. It's only eight-thirty, didn't think you'd be so awake," said Leon.

Claire shrugged. "I can be a morning person when I want to," she said. "Plus it's rare that Chris will send me off alone."

"He just...told you to leave?" asked Leon.

"Well not really, he wanted to sleep and I guess he knew I'd get bored at home anyways, so he told me to go hang out with you or Steve. I figured the kid's probably still sleeping, or watching his morning cartoons anyways, so I called you," she said.

"...Who's Steve?"

Claire looked up. "What?"

"Steve...who is he?"

"Oh...Did I not mention him?" Claire asked. "I was rollerblading with Chris and Jill, and I bumped into him on the bridge and fell in. He was being kind of an ass about it, but I guess we're friends now. We hung out yesterday."

Leon had many questions but before he could start, the waitress showed up and took their order. They both ordered coffee and pancakes, since there were no adults there to tell them coffee was bad for them.

They were both quiet until the waitress came back with their coffees. Claire quickly added milk and sugar and went to take a sip, but Leon grabbed her hand and lowered the cup. "So how come you haven't mentioned Steve before?" he asked.

"It never really came up, I only met him two days ago," said Claire. She sipped her coffee to avoid saying anything else.

Leon sighed. "So he's a cool guy? How old is he?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Claire shrugged.

"Well, what's his last name?"

Claire shrugged again.

"...What school does he go to?"

Once again, she shrugged.

Leon slammed his cup down on the table. "You're hanging out with some guy you don't even know?"

Claire paused a bit before taking another sip, and shrugging once more.

"I see. So, you like this guy?" he asked.

This time, Claire put the cup down. "No, it's not like that! I guess he's just fun to be around," she said.

"He was around that long?" asked Leon.

"Only long enough to help me with groceries. Then he ditched me in the woods like an asshole," said Claire.

"...He ditched you in the woods? What the hell were you doing in the woods?" asked Leon.

"I'd love to know the answer to that," said a voice behind Claire. She turned around and saw Jill standing there, hands on her hips. "You shouldn't go in the woods at all, ever," she added.

Claire sighed. "You look like shit," she said.

Jill rubbed her eyes and sat down next to Leon. "Gee, thanks...I had a long night, and I didn't feel like going home so I came here for coffee. Didn't think you guys would be here," she said.

Leon took another sip of his coffee. Claire took only two seconds to come up with a genius plan. "I heard you guys pulled an all-nighter at work. Was it tough?" she asked.

Jill looked up, dark circles around her eyes. "Yes, it was tough," she said.

"Don't worry, Chris told me everything...How are you holding up?" asked Claire.

Jill rubbed her eyes again. "Fine, I suppose...I mean, it's not every day you see a dead body in the woods," she said. She looked up and saw that Claire's face was full of terror. She looked over to Leon who had the same look. "What?" she asked.

"Dead...body?" asked Claire.

"In the woods?" said Leon.

Jill looked from one to the other. "You mean..." she looked back to Claire. "You said Chris told you everything!"

"Of course he didn't! He didn't wanna tell me anything in case I'd get freaked out! Was there really a dead body in the woods?" asked Claire.

"You're such a little shit...And yes, there was. You know, your brother's gonna kill me now," said Jill.

The waitress brought the pancakes over, as well as an extra cup of coffee for Jill. Claire explained that Chris said he'd be in later to pay, but Jill insisted on covering it.

"So, was it some accident?" asked Leon.

"I don't think I wanna be talking about this," said Jill. She took a sip of her coffee, and noticed Claire was staring at her. This brought back memories to the day they met. "What?"

"Was it a murder?" asked Claire.

"I just told you, I don't wanna be talking about this!" said Jill.

"Fine! Let's talk about something else, then!" said Claire.

"That sounds just as well," said Leon.

"Okay then," said Jill. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"How was your date with my brother?" asked Claire.

Jill sighed. "I knew it. The moment I saw that stare of yours, I knew you'd bring that up," she said.

"So it was bad?"  
"No, it wasn't bad."

Leon blinked. "Wait, you're dating Chris?" he asked.

"As if you didn't know that," said Claire. "Everyone saw it happen since day one."

"I know you did, you freak," said Jill.

"I didn't," said Leon.

Claire smiled and put her hand over his. "That's because you don't notice things," she said. She looked back to Jill. "So, what did you guys do?"

"Claire, stop it," said Jill.

"I just wanna know, did you go to the movies? And if so, did you even watch the movie, or spend the whole time making out in the back row?"

"Okay! Fine! It was a freaking murder, are you happy now!?" yelled Jill.

There weren't many people in the diner at that time, but the few who were there all looked up at the mention of murder. Jill felt everyone's eyes on her and sipped her coffee, hoping she'd somehow make herself invisible.

"A murder in the woods...That's messed up," said Claire.

Someone walked over to their booth and cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me...did you say there was a murder in the woods?" he asked.

Jill's eyes were wide-open. She was specifically told not to talk about it to anyone, or there would be a panic. And now, this man sounded panicked.

Claire sighed. "Dude, we're trying to have a private conversation about CSI...Do you mind?" she asked, glaring up at the man.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." he said. Everyone in the restaurant sighed in relief, including Jill.  
"Too close," she said.

"How rude is that?" asked Claire.

Leon and Jill both stared at her.

"...What? Come on! That was genius and you know it!" she said.

Jill nodded. "But seriously, can we not talk about this anymore? I'd rather talk to Chris about it and straighten out our story before giving you too much information," she said.

"You remember that fight in the alley? I saved your life, remember?" said Claire.

"Low blow," said Leon.

Jill sighed. "Okay, fine, you get SOME information...But not everything, and don't you dare think of ways to get more out of me because it won't work," she said.

Claire nodded, and Jill began explaining what the theory was on the events from the night before...


	23. Debrief

Leon sat in the usual booth at Emmy's, waiting for Claire. He'd been out for a morning jog when she called, and luckily his route brought him right by the diner, so he cut it short for the day.

He read the menu over and over, trying to decide on what to have. He heard the bell go off for the door and looked up to see Claire walk in. He'd expected her to be dragging her feet, half asleep, with bags under her eyes. But no, she was wide awake, hopping over to the bar, with an actual smile on her face.

"Hey," she said.

Leon returned the smile. "Morning," he said, "had a good night, did you?"

Her smile faded. "What do you mean?" she asked. She sat in the booth across from him and put her backpack down.

"Well, you seem cheerful. It's only eight-thirty, didn't think you'd be so awake," said Leon.

Claire shrugged. "I can be a morning person when I want to," she said. "Plus it's rare that Chris will send me off alone."

"He just...told you to leave?" asked Leon.

"Well not really, he wanted to sleep and I guess he knew I'd get bored at home anyways, so he told me to go hang out with you or Steve. I figured the kid's probably still sleeping, or watching his morning cartoons anyways, so I called you," she said.

"...Who's Steve?"

Claire looked up. "What?"

"Steve...who is he?"

"Oh...Did I not mention him?" Claire asked. "I was rollerblading with Chris and Jill, and I bumped into him on the bridge and fell in. He was being kind of an ass about it, but I guess we're friends now. We hung out yesterday."

Leon had many questions but before he could start, the waitress showed up and took their order. They both ordered coffee and pancakes, since there were no adults there to tell them coffee was bad for them.

They were both quiet until the waitress came back with their coffees. Claire quickly added milk and sugar and went to take a sip, but Leon grabbed her hand and lowered the cup. "So how come you haven't mentioned Steve before?" he asked.

"It never really came up, I only met him two days ago," said Claire. She sipped her coffee to avoid saying anything else.

Leon sighed. "So he's a cool guy? How old is he?" he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Claire shrugged.

"Well, what's his last name?"

Claire shrugged again.

"...What school does he go to?"

Once again, she shrugged.

Leon slammed his cup down on the table. "You're hanging out with some guy you don't even know?"

Claire paused a bit before taking another sip, and shrugging once more.

"I see. So, you like this guy?" he asked.

This time, Claire put the cup down. "No, it's not like that! I guess he's just fun to be around," she said.

"He was around that long?" asked Leon.

"Only long enough to help me with groceries. Then he ditched me in the woods like an asshole," said Claire.

"...He ditched you in the woods? What the hell were you doing in the woods?" asked Leon.

"I'd love to know the answer to that," said a voice behind Claire. She turned around and saw Jill standing there, hands on her hips. "You shouldn't go in the woods at all, ever," she added.

Claire sighed. "You look like shit," she said.

Jill rubbed her eyes and sat down next to Leon. "Gee, thanks...I had a long night, and I didn't feel like going home so I came here for coffee. Didn't think you guys would be here," she said.

Leon took another sip of his coffee. Claire took only two seconds to come up with a genius plan. "I heard you guys pulled an all-nighter at work. Was it tough?" she asked.

Jill looked up, dark circles around her eyes. "Yes, it was tough," she said.

"Don't worry, Chris told me everything...How are you holding up?" asked Claire.

Jill rubbed her eyes again. "Fine, I suppose...I mean, it's not every day you see a dead body in the woods," she said. She looked up and saw that Claire's face was full of terror. She looked over to Leon who had the same look. "What?" she asked.

"Dead...body?" asked Claire.

"In the woods?" said Leon.

Jill looked from one to the other. "You mean..." she looked back to Claire. "You said Chris told you everything!"

"Of course he didn't! He didn't wanna tell me anything in case I'd get freaked out! Was there really a dead body in the woods?" asked Claire.

"You're such a little shit...And yes, there was. You know, your brother's gonna kill me now," said Jill.

The waitress brought the pancakes over, as well as an extra cup of coffee for Jill. Claire explained that Chris said he'd be in later to pay, but Jill insisted on covering it.

"So, was it some accident?" asked Leon.

"I don't think I wanna be talking about this," said Jill. She took a sip of her coffee, and noticed Claire was staring at her. This brought back memories to the day they met. "What?"

"Was it a murder?" asked Claire.

"I just told you, I don't wanna be talking about this!" said Jill.

"Fine! Let's talk about something else, then!" said Claire.

"That sounds just as well," said Leon.

"Okay then," said Jill. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"How was your date with my brother?" asked Claire.

Jill sighed. "I knew it. The moment I saw that stare of yours, I knew you'd bring that up," she said.

"So it was bad?"  
"No, it wasn't bad."

Leon blinked. "Wait, you're dating Chris?" he asked.

"As if you didn't know that," said Claire. "Everyone saw it happen since day one."

"I know you did, you freak," said Jill.

"I didn't," said Leon.

Claire smiled and put her hand over his. "That's because you don't notice things," she said. She looked back to Jill. "So, what did you guys do?"

"Claire, stop it," said Jill.

"I just wanna know, did you go to the movies? And if so, did you even watch the movie, or spend the whole time making out in the back row?"

"Okay! Fine! It was a freaking murder, are you happy now!?" yelled Jill.

There weren't many people in the diner at that time, but the few who were there all looked up at the mention of murder. Jill felt everyone's eyes on her and sipped her coffee, hoping she'd somehow make herself invisible.

"A murder in the woods...That's messed up," said Claire.

Someone walked over to their booth and cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me...did you say there was a murder in the woods?" he asked.

Jill's eyes were wide-open. She was specifically told not to talk about it to anyone, or there would be a panic. And now, this man sounded panicked.

Claire sighed. "Dude, we're trying to have a private conversation about CSI...Do you mind?" she asked, glaring up at the man.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." he said. Everyone in the restaurant sighed in relief, including Jill.  
"Too close," she said.

"How rude is that?" asked Claire.

Leon and Jill both stared at her.

"...What? Come on! That was genius and you know it!" she said.

Jill nodded. "But seriously, can we not talk about this anymore? I'd rather talk to Chris about it and straighten out our story before giving you too much information," she said.

"You remember that fight in the alley? I saved your life, remember?" said Claire.

"Low blow," said Leon.

Jill sighed. "Okay, fine, you get SOME information...But not everything, and don't you dare think of ways to get more out of me because it won't work," she said.

Claire nodded, and Jill began explaining what the theory was on the events from the night before...


	24. Suspects

Hours passed as Jill explained what she knew of the events from the previous night. She kept to minor details, since she wasn't supposed to be saying anything at all. Claire and Leon had been silent the entire time, listening attentively to the most horrific yet exciting thing that had ever happened in the city. Leon wasn't as impressed as Claire, though, since he came from a bigger city where things happened regularly. He did however get entertained by his younger friend's interest.

Jill finally stopped, deciding they'd heard enough. Apart from names, she'd told them almost everything. She sank into the booth and sipped her cold coffee. "Ew..."

Claire leaned forward and folded her arms on the table. "So, who did it?" she asked.

"That's a stupid question," said Leon.

She looked over. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, have you ever heard of a murder case where the murderer was known instantly? It wouldn't be much of a case," he said. "I wasn't implying anything."

"Maybe not, but you never know...It could happen," said Claire.

"Either way, we have no idea. All we know is he's sick enough to target kids," said Jill. She waved the waitress over for a new, warmer coffee, and sipped it instantly. "Much better."

"How do you know it's a he?" asked Leon.

"Well, I don't for sure, but we did have someone in last night who said they saw someone running out of the woods, possibly male. He's short, slim, shoulder-length hair, and runs pretty fast. You guys should keep a lookout for anyone like that, just to be safe," said Jill.

Claire grinned. "Sounds a bit like Steve," she said.

Leon started shuffling his way towards Jill. "Sorry, can I get out?" he asked.

Jill blinked and slid out of the booth to let him out. "Leaving?" she asked.

He nodded and stood up, glancing over to Claire. "I'm getting sick of hearing about this Steve guy," he said.

"...Are you serious? You're jealous of some kid you've never even met, that I myself have only known for like...two days?" said Claire.

"You've mentioned him about three or four times today," said Leon.

"He's a friend, Leon, gees!"

"Whatever, I'm heading to the station anyways. Maybe I can help with the case in some way," he said.

"I doubt the chief's gonna let you help, you're still a minor and only a COOP student," said Jill.

"I could still be helpful somehow," he said. He started for the door, but stopped when he saw Claire grin. "Something funny?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually, you're getting all jealous over a friend of mine, and then running off to the station, most likely to flirt with that asian chick," said Claire.

"What!? I do NOT flirt with Ada!" he said.

"Oh great, again with this Ada business..." said Jill. They both glared at her, so she sipped her coffee and looked away, pretending not to listen.

"Had a nice chat with her the other day, and it seems like you guys had a pretty good conversation judging on the stuff she knew," said Claire.

"That's not called flirting, Claire, it's called HAVING A CONVERSATION!" said Leon.

"Which is a FORM OF FLIRTING!"

"You really think I'd go for someone as stuck-up and obviously slutty as Ada?" he asked.

"Well why not? She's got it all, right? And clearly she likes you, so-" she was cut off mid-sentence when Leon leaned down and kissed her.

"I'll call you later, 'kay?" he asked.

Claire stared forward, nodded, and Leon walked out of the diner. After he left, she looked over to Jill, who had a very smug grin on her face. "I feel like the biggest ass," said Claire.

"No, no, you're not the biggest ass. You were both being equivalent asses," said Jill.

"Hey!"  
"Don't worry, it's pretty cute," said Jill, laughing. "Like I told you before, he seems to have NO interest in Ada. I mean, yes she was flirting her ass off with him. But all he talked about was you," she said.

"I guess..." said Claire.

Jill sighed. "Wanna do something today?" she asked.

"Aren't you exhausted?"

"I'm actually pretty wired. Plus I wanna find something to do before Irons calls me back into the station to work on this stupid case," said Jill.

Claire shrugged. "I guess. I wish Leon would stick around, though. Maybe he could meet Steve and see just how annoying he really is. Then he'll believe me when I tell him I really don't like him in that way," she said.

Jill laughed again. "He is pretty annoying."

"And short..." said Claire.

"...Yeah, I guess he's short...but what does that have to do with anything?" asked Jill.

"Just think about it. He shows up a couple days ago, likes going in the woods, and someone saw a guy run out yesterday that resembles him," said Claire.

Jill leaned back. "Claire, your twelve-year-old friend is NOT a murderer," she said.

"How do you know?"

"...Well for starters, he's twelve."  
"So?"  
Jill sighed. "So, kids that age worry about video games and boobs, not killing."  
"He could have some psychological problems," said Claire.

"Would you just give it up?"

"I bet it was him running out of those woods, and I'll prove it."  
"You're not a cop, Claire. You might have the brain and resemble your brother in many ways, but he's the one with the badge so let him do this stuff," said Jill.

Claire shook her head and ate her pancakes. "You'll see," she said.


	25. Accusations

That afternoon, it rained. Usually, Steve liked the rain, but this time he'd been walking around in his camo-pattern shorts and didn't have an umbrella, so it was pretty cold. Of course, he'd never admit to it.

He walked down Main Street, trying to find something to do. His dad had asked him to stay at home and help clean out the gutters, so he'd ran out as fast as he could. Anything was better than dirty gutters.

So he walked, passing by many stores and restaurants, none of them interesting enough to take shelter in. He looked ahead and almost couldn't believe it; Claire was walking his way, also looking down and soaked. She looked mad, but that's how she'd looked since he met her.

"Hey, Claire!" he called out, waving.

Claire looked up, sighed, and stopped walking. "What do you want?" she asked.

He walked over. "Oh, come on, you're not still mad about yesterday, are you?" he asked. "It was a joke!"

"You left me alone in the woods and it started getting dark...How is that funny?"

Steve shrugged. "I didn't think you'd get lost, you seemed like a smart person," he said.

Claire shook her head. "Whatever. Anyways, I'm glad I found you," she said.

"Well technically, I found YOU," said Steve.

"Shut up a minute, this is serious. What did you do last night after ditching me?" asked Claire.

Steve thought a bit. "Well, I waited outside the woods for a bit but you never came back out, so I went in to try and scare you. I walked around all night but didn't find you, so I went home," he said.

"Uh huh..."

"What? I did! What's it to you anyways?" said Steve.

"So you admit you were in the woods last night," said Claire.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason...I have to go find Jill, don't go too far," said Claire. She turned and ran back the way she'd come from.

"Hey wait! I'll come with you!" said Steve, running after her.

"No, you stay here," she said. She kept running, but Steve followed. She took a couple turns to try and lose him, but he never gave up the chase.

"Would you slow down!?" yelled Steve.

She looked back while running. "No! Stop following me!" she yelled back.

"LOOK OUT!"

As she cleared the corner of a building, a car was coming down the road but the building made it impossible for it to see her. She turned at Steve's warning and ran right into the side of the front bumper of the car. It stopped instantly, and she rolled over the hood, then to the pavement. She held her leg and yelled out, surprised she could still feel anything.

Steve ran to her side in seconds, as did the driver and a few others.  
"I didn't see her! She came out of nowhere!" said the driver, panicked.

"Claire, are you okay!?" asked Steve.

She looked up with teary eyes. "I think it's broken!" said Claire.

"I'll call an ambulance!" said the driver, running in his car.

Steve looked at her leg. "It doesn't look broken," he said.

"Call Chris!"

Steve pulled out his phone, and blinked. "I don't have his number," he said. Claire gave him the number and he punched it in, and then waited. "I don't think he's there," he said.

The sound of sirens got louder and louder, and the driver returned. "They're on the way," he said. "I'm really sorry!"

Claire shook her head. "My fault," she said.

Steve got Claire's phone from her jacket and went down the contacts list until he found the home number. He tried that, but there was no answer. "I can't get a hold of Chris," he said.

Claire was in tears again. "Keep trying," she said.

So the ambulance came, braced Claire's leg to put her in the van and headed straight for the hospital, and the entire time Steve stood there trying over and over to get a hold of Chris. He felt somewhat responsible, but then again he wasn't the idiot who was running backwards into a street.

Finally, he gave up on Chris and called Jill. Unlike her partner, Jill answered the phone in less than two rings. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Hey...you sound tired, were you sleeping?" asked Steve.

"No...Who is this?"

"Oh, sorry...This is Steve, Claire's friend? We met yesterday at the river," he said.

Jill paused. "Okay...?"

"I'm calling you from Claire's phone."  
"...Okay?"

"I was trying to reach her brother but can't, do you know where he would be?"

Jill sighed. "You kids always assume I know Chris' whereabouts, at all times...it's not like I have him on a tracker," she said. Then it clicked. "Wait, why are YOU trying to call him from Claire's phone?"

"Well, there was an accident...and she wanted Chris," he said.

"What kind of accident?"

Steve explained from his encounter with Claire to the painful end of the chase. "I mean, it wasn't really my fault right?" he said.

"Go to the hospital to bring Claire her phone back, keep an eye on it in case Chris calls, and try to keep her calm until I get there," said Jill.

Steve could tell she was wide awake and alert now. "Well what if you get there first?" he asked.

"Just get your ass to the hospital, Steve, I'll try and leave messages for Chris wherever I can," she said right before hanging up.

"Wow...bossy," said Steve. He put the phone away and asked the driver who'd hit Claire if he could give him a ride to the hospital. The man was still in nerves, but agreed anyways.

* * *

Jill walked out of the station, sighing. Chris hadn't been in all day, but everyone was in charge of telling him what happened if they saw him. Knowing Claire, this was probably something small like a fracture or even just a bruise, but if she was panicking, there was no doubt that Chris would be too. Besides, can't deny a kid of her big brother when she's hurt and scared.

She headed to the parking lot and got in her Jeep. After trying Chris' cell once more, she drove towards the hospital. _Please be minor sprain, please be minor sprain..._she thought.

When she reached the building, she sighed. There were ambulances everywhere, doctors outside having smokes, patients in wheelchairs doing the same, and she remembered that she hated hospitals.

She drove to the parking lot, parked, and went inside. The last thing Jill wanted to do was walk around a hospital all day, so she went straight for the reception desk and asked for Claire.

"Are you a family member?" asked the nurse.

"No, I'm a friend, I have to make sure she's okay since her brother's currently missing," said Jill.

The nurse turned back to her computer. "I'm sorry, I can't give out any information unless it's to family," she said. "Did you try reaching the police to file a missing persons' report or something?"

Jill sighed, reached in her pocket, pulled out her badge and showed the nurse. "I am the police."

"Oh! I'm really sorry about that! Let me just look here..." she checked her computer, while Jill put the badge away with a half-smile. "Oh, here we go, Claire Redfield was it? She's in x-rays right now, you can wait here if you'd like," she said.

Jill stared at her, and the nurse held her hand out towards the hallway. "Or just go right in, it's down the hall, left, and the second door on your right," she said.

Jill nodded and headed off. "Thank you," she said. She walked down the hall, turned left, and stopped. Next to the second door on the right was a bench, and on that bench was Steve. "Well then, I'm glad you showed up," she said as she walked over.

Steve looked up, standing instantly. "What's that mean? It's not like I'd run away with her phone," he said.

"I know, I was joking...So, what exactly happened?" she asked. She sat down next to him.

"I already told you," said Steve.

"Yes...but WHY was she running across a street without paying attention?" asked Jill.

"She was running away from me."  
"Why?"  
"...You know, I actually have no idea. She asked me where I was yesterday, and when I told her she just started freaking out and said she had to go find you," said Steve.

Jill stared at him blankly. "Were you in the woods?" she asked, grinning. Steve nodded, and her grin disappeared. "Wait...I think I'm slowly figuring this out."

"Figuring what out?" asked Steve.

Just then, the door opened and a doctor came out pushing Claire on a wheelchair. "Well you're lucky that's all you get, after jumping in front of a speeding car..." said the doctor.

"I didn't jump," said Claire. She looked up at Jill and sighed. "Great..."

Jill put her hands on her hips. "Great is right, what the hell? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she asked.

"Yes, Jill, I want to kill myself."

"That's not funny, on so many levels," said Jill.

Claire sighed and looked back to the doctor. "Can I leave?" she asked.

The doctor shook his head. "There's still a lot of stuff to do...We need to fill in some paperwork, but it requires a parent or legal guardian," he said. He looked up at Jill. "Are you related?" he asked.

"No, I'm just a friend. I've been trying to contact her brother but he's nowhere," she said. She noticed Claire's expression, but wasn't sure if it was worry or sadness. "I'm sure he just fell asleep, we had a long night at work yesterday. Would I be able to take care of the papers?" she asked.

The doctor sighed. "I wish," he said, grinning. It was a creepy grin, which slightly scared Jill. He went on. "But you could bring her up for the fitting, it's on the floor above this one," he said.

"Fitting? What for?" asked Jill.

The doctor raised a brow. "The cast...that leg's got two fractures, and it needs to set," he said.

"What? I don't want a cast!" said Claire.

"Should've thought of that before jumping in front of a speeding car," said Jill.

"I DIDN'T JUMP!" yelled Claire.

The doctor put his hand on her shoulder. "Shh, it won't be so bad...It's only for about a month," he said. Jill caught Claire's expression again, but this time it was clear that the girl wanted to punch someone...and the doctor was at a dangerously close distance. "Okay, I'll take her up, and Steve here can wait in the waiting room to see if Chris'll show up or call. Keep Claire's phone so he can reach it," she said.

The doctor nodded. "That sounds like a plan. I'll have the papers waiting with the nurse down at the reception, just have her brother fill it in when he gets here. I need to run though, my pager's going off. And don't worry about the cast," he said again to Claire before turning and heading down the hall.

They watched him go. "Dude...Something is seriously weird about that doctor," said Claire.

"What do you mean?" asked Steve.

"He just...he acted weird," said Claire.

"Weird how?" asked Jill. "Was it the whole shoulder-touchy thing? Or the creepy grins?"

Claire sighed. "Touchy, no doubt about it," she said.

Jill almost laughed, then sat down on the waiting chair and looked at Claire. "So, how about we go get you a cast fitted, and get the hell out of here?" she asked.

"Aren't we waiting for Chris?" asked Claire.

"He'll show."  
She sighed. "I doubt it, if he's sleeping he'll be out forever. Besides, he needs to do the paperwork," she said.

Jill smiled. "I'll take care of that, don't worry," she said.

Claire shook her head. "It's gonna need his signature," she said. Jill kept smiling, so Claire decided to drop it. "Alright do it your way, let's go," she said.

Jill dropped the smile and looked at Steve seriously. "I want you to sit right here, don't move, and wait. In about five minutes, try calling Chris again, and keep doing so every five minutes. We'll get him eventually," she said.

Steve sighed. "Can I at least walk around or go outside or something?" he asked.

"No. Park your ass right there and if you move the slightest bit, I'll know about it."  
"...Gees, calm down," he said.

"I'm serious, I need to talk to you after this is over, and if you're not here I'll have to go find you...and trust me when I tell you that you will NOT want me to find you," said Jill.

Steve laughed. "You don't scare me," he said.

Jill reached over, grabbed two of his fingers, and pulled them backwards. She was careful not to break anything, but he still yelled out. "Okay okay! I won't move!" he said.

"Good boy," she said as she stood. "Be back soon!"

Steve watched Jill push the wheelchair towards the elevator, and looked down at his fingers. "What the hell is everyone's problem today?" he asked nobody in particular.


	26. Casts

Chris reached over to the bedside table, smacking his hand on his alarm. It had been going off all morning, and his exhaustion was making it sound like his cell phone ringtone. He hit the alarm as hard as he could but it didn't stop. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, then looked again and realized it WAS his cell phone.

He took it and checked the screen. He'd just missed a call from Claire, probably asking to have dinner at a friend's house. He sat up and checked the list of missed calls on his phone. His eyes widened. Thirty missed calls, most of them from Claire, several from Jill, and a few from work. He could ignore the ones from work, but not Claire or Jill.

He hit the call-back button and got up, grabbing a pair of cargo pants and slipping them on with the phone jammed between his ear and his shoulder. After two rings, a boy's voice came in. "Chris?" he asked.

Chris wasn't sure if he should jump straight to anger, or stay in fear. "Who is this? Where's Claire?" he asked.

"This is Steve. We've been trying to reach you forever, man. Come to the hospital as soon as you can, Jill's with Claire now getting a cast put o-"

"A CAST!?"

"Yeah, but don't worry nothing's broken! I've already explained this story, I don't really f-"

"Steve, you're a good kid, and it'd be a shame if something bad happened to you. But if you don't tell me that story RIGHT NOW, I'll kill you myself," said Chris. He knew it was harsh, but when someone used the words 'hospital' and 'cast' in a sentence with his sister's name, there was no time for mister nice-guy.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. Basically, Claire was running down the street and got hit by a car," said Steve.

Chris paused, trying to see a good-side to this story. "How the hell do you expect me not to worry about that?" he asked.

Steve seemed distracted, and his voice sounded distant, or muffled. Chris didn't like it. "Steve!" he yelled.

"Sorry, this nurse is yelling at me. I have to turn off the cell phone, but Jill says you should come down asap. Nothing's broken and Claire's fine, but she wants you," said Steve.

"...Jill wants me?" asked Chris. He couldn't help a smug grin.

"Claire wants you, Chris. I think she's scared of the doctors."  
Chris sighed and finished putting his shoes on. "Well I'm heading out now, I'll be right there! I expect the whole story when I get there, okay?" he said.

"Gotcha. Seeya soon, Chris!" said Steve, way too excited considering the current events.

* * *

"Comfy?" asked the doctor.

Claire shook her head. "I get the feeling it's gonna get on my nerves within a day," she said.

"Most likely, yes. It'll become itchy, warm, and at some point just very irritating. But you can't take it off, or it'll be even worse," said the doctor. Someone else had applied the cast, but he'd come in to check and make sure it was on right. Most doctors never bothered.  
Jill was sitting on a chair next to Claire. "Does she have to sit in that wheel-chair under the cast comes off?" she asked.

The doctor didn't bother to look up. "No, we'll be supplying crutches. Though I strongly advise not to stand on that leg for any reason, even if you think it's feeling better," he said. He picked up a pair of crutches and started adjusting them to match with Claire's height.

"I'm not going to school, then," said Claire.

"You wish," said Jill.

Claire looked at her. "I'll look stupid! Plus the kids already pick on me enough, I don't need to add onto that," she said.

"And you know for a fact that Chris will just let you stay at home this whole time?" asked Jill.

"Well, no. But he definitely won't want me out on crutches when there's a murderer on the loose," said Claire.

Jill blinked at the mention of the murderer, and smiled up at the doctor. She didn't want to cause panic. "No worries doc, I already know who the guys is. No need to panic," she said.

The doctor wasn't sure if he should offer an opinion, so he picked up a note-pad and began writing. "I'll write you a note allowing you one week out of school, but it's not to go party or anything. I want you to promise you'll rest that leg as much as possible," he said.

"One week?" asked Claire.

The doctor ripped out the paper and handed it over to Jill. "One week, then bring her back to see me," he said. He got up and shot Jill a wink. "Be seeing you again real soon," he said, and left the room.

Claire watched him leave, then smacked Jill on the arm. "Did you see that!?" she asked.

"Ouch...Yes, but why would you need to hit me?" asked Jill, rubbing her arm.

"Jill, he's super creepy! He winked at you like he's planning something."

"Claire...your doctor isn't planning anything. He just spent hours with you trying to help you, he's a good guy," said Jill.

Claire took the crutches and got up slowly, testing her balance. Jill stood as well, keeping an eye on her in case she suddenly dropped. "You know who's gonna be mad about this, right?" she asked.

Claire looked up. "Chris? Whatever, he's not even here so if anyone's got a right to be mad it's me," she said.

"No, I meant Leon. He seemed edgy when you mentioned Steve earlier...I have a feeling he won't be too happy when he hears what happened," said Jill.

Claire nodded, but wasn't really listening. She was walking in crutches, wearing her first cast ever, and it finally hit her that Chris hadn't been there for any of it. She took a step forward, felt a sudden pain in her leg and nearly dropped, but Jill caught her by the arm.

"Careful!"

Claire shook her head. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she said.

Jill sighed. "He'll show up," she said.

They left the room and met up with Steve. He got up and handed the phone back to Claire. "He called back, finally. Said he'd be here soon," he said.

Jill smiled to Claire. "See? I told you," she said.

Claire sat down on the chair, and Steve sat next to her. Jill left, exhausted, to go find some coffee and a soda for Claire, hoping she'd see Chris there when she got back.


	27. Puzzle Pieces

"So...the nurse let me borrow this," said Steve, holding up a marker.

"For what?" asked Claire.

"To sign your cast, obviously. Man, you're not too bright are you?" he said, laughing.

Claire elbowed him. "Shut up!" she said, grinning.

Steve took the cap off the marker and drew a line on her arm. "No, YOU shut up!" he said.

They started fighting over the marker, their laughter echoing in the hallways. Around the corner at the elevators, Chris stopped and listened.

"What's up?" asked Leon, who'd been entirely surprised when Chris had rushed into the station and pulled him out of it with very little explanation.

"That's Claire, laughing..." said Chris, full of relief. If she was laughing, then she couldn't be hurt too badly.

Leon started walking fast, turning the corner and stopping again. He saw Claire and Steve sitting on the chairs, laughing, and wasn't sure if he wanted to keep going.

Chris came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just go, she'll be happy to see you," he said.

"That's Steve, I'm guessing?"

Chris looked over. "Yeah, that's him. I'm sure he had something to do with this," he said.

As though she could sense him, Claire looked up and spotted her brother. She wanted to run to him, but knew that wasn't possible. Instead, she yanked the marker out of Steve's hand and held it out with a smile. "You first," she said.

Chris gave Leon a pat on the back and walked over to the chairs, kneeling down. He took the marker and began writing his name and a small message. "I send you off on your own for a few hours, and this is what happens," he said. He looked up with a grin, and Claire knew he was joking around.

She looked at Leon and smiled. "Can you sign it too? It would mean a lot," she said.

"Sure you don't want Steve to sign it first?" said Leon, trying not to sound too smug.

"Well honestly, I was gonna ask that doctor since he's been winking at me all day, but he's not around so I guess you'll have to do," she joked.

Leon sighed, but couldn't hold back a grin. "Glad to see you're okay," he said. He walked over and took the marker from Chris.

"Hey, I wanna sign it too!" said Steve.

"You'll get your turn," said Claire.

"When?"

"After Jill."

Chris blinked, having nearly forgotten. "Where is Jill, anyways?" he asked.

"Went to get coffee, a few minutes before you guys showed up," said Claire.

Leon looked around. "I should go find her, I could use some too," he said.

Steve jumped to his feet. "I'll go," he said. "I've been sitting here long enough anyways."

He walked off in the direction Jill had gone, and Leon sighed. Chris had taken Steve's seat, and Claire's head was now rested on her brother's arm.

"What are you thinking?" asked Claire, looking at Leon.

"Just...Okay, he seems like a nice enough guy," he said.

"Told you so. He's a good friend, not everyone would stick around all day after chasing their friend into traffic," she said.

"I would!" said Leon.

Claire laughed. "Hopefully, you'll never chase me into traffic," she said.

Chris looked down. "About that...what the hell were you doing running in traffic?" he asked.

Claire sat up straight, looking down the hall to make sure Steve was out of sight. "Don't get mad, okay?" she said.

"Okay..." said Chris.

"Jill told us about the murder."

"WHAT!?"

"You said you wouldn't get mad. So, you know...calm down," she said.

Leon leaned against the wall. "I think you can trust us enough with this, Chris...It'd be good to know these things are going on in town," he said.

Chris sighed. "You're right...How much did she tell you guys?" he asked.

"Everything," said Claire. "And I have a feeling Steve has something to do with it."

"...Steve. The short, clumsy kid that was just here? What could he have to do with murder?" asked Chris.

"He was in the woods, even after dark."

"So?"

"So...someone saw a boy that matches his description running out of the woods around the same time the murder happened," said Claire.

"That's a pretty big coincidence," said Leon.

Chris shook his head. "If he had something to do with it, I doubt he would've stayed here all day. Let me guess, though, you were running away from him 'cause you asked him if he was a murderer?" he asked.

"No, stupid, that would be the dumbest thing to do," said Claire.

Chris nodded to her cast. "Second dumbest," he said.

Claire elbowed him and leaned her head against the wall. "Whatever. My point is, Steve was there, and neither of you are taking it seriously," she said.

Leon grinned. "Maybe he offered to get coffee as an excuse to run away? Hell, maybe he's trying to find Jill for his next victim," he said.

"Why would you even joke about that?" asked Chris.

"Seriously," said Claire.

Leon held his hands up. "Why not? She's young, exhausted, and knows he was there! I mean, if I were a murderer and overheard a cop talking about seeing me at the scene of the crime, I'd try to think of a way to get rid of her," he said. He was joking, but the look in Claire's eyes through him off. "What?" he asked.

Chris looked to his sister and saw the same fear Leon did. "Claire?" he asked, concerned.

"I think I know who it is," she said.  
Chris rolled his eyes. "Okay, junior detective lady, no more action movies for you," he said.

A doctor passed by and Claire reached out to grab his coat sleeve. "Excuse me," she said.

He stopped and looked at her. "Yes?"

"The doctor who took care of me, I'm wondering where he went. Would you be able to find me doctor..." she looked down at the note he'd written, to see which doctor's name was checked off. "Doctor Campbell? Is he still around?" she asked.

The doctor smiled. "I'm sorry miss, but you must be mistaken. Doctor Campbell is a woman, and she's gone on maternity leave. Has been for a month now," he said.

"No no, it was a man. He wrote me this note," said Claire, handing him the note. The doctor took it and read it over.

"I don't recognize the handwriting, but we definitely only have one doctor Campbell in this hospital, and I assure you she isn't a man," he said.

Chris took the note. "Maybe he checked off the wrong name?" he asked.

The doctor shook his head. "No, we may be busy and tired, but we never forget our own name. Would you like me to call the police?" he asked.

Chris took out his wallet and showed him his RPD badge. "Does this place have cameras?" he asked, now on his feet.

"Yes," said the doctor. "I'll have someone from security bring up the tapes," he said.

Chris looked down to Claire. "Would you recognize him?" he asked.

Claire nodded. "Yeah but...Chris," she said.

He caught her concern. "What? Did he do anything?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I accidentally brought up the murder with him in the room, and Jill told him she knew who the killer was, I guess so he wouldn't worry. When he left he said he'd see her again soon...

Leon might be right, she's really tired, and she's been gone for awhile," she said.

Chris let every work sink in, and looked at Leon. "Stay here with her," he said. He looked at the doctor. "I want that tape brought to this boy here as soon as you can get it, and one of your security guards standing by these two at all times," he said. He turned and ran down the hallway, dialing Jill's number as he ran, hoping Leon was wrong.


	28. Bait

The elevator door opened and Steve looked around. He wasn't sure which floor Jill had gone to for her coffee, and didn't know the hospital well enough to know where it was himself. He stepped out of the elevator and walked up to the desk. "Excuse me, is there coffee on this floor?" he asked.  
The lady at the desk grinned, which was a bit creepy. "You're in the morgue, sweety. I know they say the coffee tastes like death, but it ain't down here," she said.

"Oh, thanks then," said Steve. He turned and headed back to the elevator.

"I got my own pot down here if you want some," she called out to him.  
"No thanks, lady, I don't smoke." The elevator door closed, and Steve felt proud of himself. He'd said no to drugs, like his dad had always told him to do. _He'll be so proud,_ he thought.

The elevator went up a floor, and the doors opened to reveal the main entrance. He was back on the main floor. He stepped out and looked around, hoping to find Jill. Instead, he noticed Claire's doctor heading out. He chased after him. "Hey, wait!" he said.  
The doctor turned around, looking like he was in a hurry. "What is it?" he asked.

Steve caught his breath. "Have you seen the lady that was with Claire?" he asked.  
"Claire?"

"Yeah, Claire, you just put a cast on her leg?" said Steve. _Wasn't even an hour ago, how would someone forget that fast,_ he thought.

"Oh yes, the young lady with the police woman," said the doctor.  
_I guess Jill told him she was a cop,_ thought Steve. "I've been trying to find her, have you seen her?"

The doctor shook his head. "No but I've also been trying to find her. I need help with something," he said.

"Oh, that sucks. Well, good luck then!" said Steve, and he turned towards the elevator.  
"Young man, wait! Would you be so kind as to help me then? I'm in a bit of a hurry and I fear I won't find the young officer in time," said the doctor.

Steve stopped and looked back at him. "I guess so. I don't think they want me up there too long anyways. Everyone's been acting weird since this morning," he said.

"Well thank you. It won't take long," said the doc.

Steve followed him out to the parking lot. "What do you need help with, anyways?" he asked.

The doctor opened the back door of his van. One of those traditional white vans usually used for businesses. "I have several boxes of files in here that I have to take up to my office. My daughter has a concert tonight and wants to use the van for her drums and equipment," he said.

"Drums? That's awesome! I wish I had drums," said Steve. He followed the doctor into the van and looked around. "It's dark in here. Where are the boxes?" he asked.

Something hit him in the head hard, and he felt the massive pain for about three seconds before hitting the floor and fading out into unconsciousness.


	29. Abduction

Jill yawned, sitting at the table next to the cafeteria. There was a sign saying 'back in ten minutes' on the cash counter, and she had no idea how long there was left so she'd decided to wait. She looked up and saw Steve walking out of the elevator. _Now would be a good time to ask him about last night,_ she thought.

She was about to wave him over but noticed him running towards the door. It was a big lobby, so she couldn't really tell why he'd be running, but saw him talking to someone at the door. When the man turned around, she could clearly see it was Claire's doctor. They talked for a bit then Steve followed him outside. "That was weird..." she said. She decided to stay at her table and wait for the cafeteria staff to return, and she'd catch Steve on his way back in.

Ten minutes passed before the staff returned. Jill got her coffee, and as she was paying she saw Claire's doctor walk back into the hospital. She'd expected to see Steve, but he was alone. She paid and thanked the man at the cash, and walked towards the doctor. He saw her coming and put on a thick smile.  
"Ahh, officer, just who I was looking for," he said.

"Oh? And why's that?" she asked.

"I've been meaning to ask...The girl, Claire, she had quite a few bruises on her," he said.

Jill sighed. She'd been expecting that. "Yeah, she's had some problems with bullying at school," she said.

"Is that right...I was wondering about her brother," started the doctor.  
"Hold it. I know where you're going with this, but you're wrong. Her brother would never hurt her," she said.

"I see...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I've seen all kinds of things in my days, and not all of them have a happy background story," he said.  
"It's alright, I asked the same question at the start, but Claire became defensive before I could get the whole question out. No, I'm afraid this is a simple case of bullying," said Jill.

"It's still going on, then?"

"No, we've arrested the boy not long ago."  
"Arrested him for bullying? Is that a legal charge?" asked the doctor.  
Jill shook her head, sipping her coffee. "It started off as bullying, but he got some friends together and attacked us in an alley. I can't go too much into detail, but he was charged with attempted murder, assaulting an officer, and assault with deadly weapon. He's still a minor though so we couldn't put him where I wish we could've," she said.  
The doctor seemed too interested. "And that is?"

"In hell," said Jill. _Why's he asking so many questions, _she thought as she sipped her coffee.

He sighed. "And the boy...what was his name?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, that information hasn't gone public yet," said Jill.  
"I'd like to know," said the doctor.  
Jill hadn't seen this guy as any kind of threat before, even with Claire's over-paranoid worries. But now, after all these questions, she was starting to get suspicious. "I'm sure that as a doctor, you'd know a thing or two about confidentiality? There are certain things that can be shared and others that can't," she said.  
"Was it Landers?"

Jill was about to sip her coffee, but stopped. "How..."

"It was, wasn't it? Micheal Landers, as you've said yourself, is only a minor. A young man who was probably framed, and put behind bars for no reason," he said.  
"No reason!? He tried to kill three people! And nearly got me, even," said Jill.

"You? You were there that night?" asked the doctor.  
Jill took a step back. "Maybe...Who are you?" she asked.

He ignored her question. "So you must be officer Jill Valentine, then? The arresting officer of the Landers boy?" he asked, already knowing the answer.  
Jill put her hand on her hip; the most subtle way to get her hand closer to her belt. "Who are you?" she asked again.  
"Officer, please, do not try anything bold, and come with me," he said.  
"Come with you where?" asked Jill. Her phone started ringing, but she ignored it.  
"Away, this place is too crowded to make a scene," he said. He opened his palm and revealed a small remote.  
Jill looked at it, unsure of what to think. "What is that?" she asked.

"That, miss, is a remote detonator," he said.

"WHAT!?"

"Shh...Like I said, I don't want to make a scene here," he said. He lowered his voice, and grinned. "If I push this button, your little friend will be scattered into millions of little pieces in my van," he said.

"My little...Steve? What did you do with Steve!?"

"He's safe at the moment. Probably suffering a slight concussion, but if you follow me and do as I say, he'll be alright, as will the young lady in the cast," he said.

Jill's heart nearly skipped a beat. "What did you do to Claire's cast..." she asked, feeling rage build up.

The man laughed. "What seemed like a simple procedure of inspecting the cast to you was actually a simple application of an adhesive bomb. This remote works for any bomb set to the right frequency, and I hate to say but I've planted two for one. So, like I said, come with me and you can save two of your friends, if not more," he said.

Jill wanted to reach for her gun, but wasn't sure if the remote was a bluff or not. She couldn't risk it, and it tore her apart inside. "Okay...I'll go..." she said.

The man grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hospital, causing her coffee cup to fall on the floor. He kept his grip on her arm as they walked towards the white van in the lot. "You know, it took a lot of work to find you," he said.

Jill wanted to pull her arm away and fight him, but when bombs are involved there's no time for bravery. "Why? What did I do to you?" she asked.

"You've destroyed my family, that's what," he said.  
"I don't even know you!" she said.

The man opened the back of the van and held up the remote. "Get in," he said. As Jill started climbing in he grabbed her arm. "Oh, and I'll have your gun and phone please," he said.  
Jill handed him the gun and phone, and he instantly aimed it at her. "Now, climb," he said.

"Let Steve go," she said.

"I do believe you're in no position to call shots," said the man. He threw the remote on the floor, grinning. "And I also do believe you're not the brightest cop. This is a garage-door opener, miss," he said.

"No bomb," said Jill.  
"No bomb," said the man, laughing.

Jill nodded, and dove right for him. He was caught off-guard and fired a shot in the air before getting knocked to the pavement. He dropped the gun and Jill reached for it, but he quickly rolled on his back and sent his foot to her side. She fell back down, allowing him to get the gun first. He brought the handle down on her head fast, and she stopped moving. "Sneaking little bitch..." he said.

He got back up, put the gun to his belt, and picked up Jill's unconscious body. He tossed her in the van and got in, sighing.

After throwing Steve out onto the pavement, he shut the back doors and got into the driver's seat, then drove off quickly, leaving an unconscious Steve alone next to a useless garage-door opener, and Jill's ringing cell phone.


	30. The Plan

Chris ran down the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator. Jill wasn't answering her phone, so instead he called the station. He'd been transferred three times until the familiar gruff but cheerful voice of Barry came on.  
"Burton here," he said.

"BARRY! Have you heard from Jill?" asked Chris.

"No, not since she called here looking for you earlier. What's going on?" asked Barry. He could hear the worry in Chris' voice, and knew something was definitely up.

Chris sighed, reaching the main entrance floor and running out into the lobby. He looked at the cafeteria tables but they were unoccupied. "She went down for coffee and hasn't been back yet," he said into the phone.  
Barry laughed. "Is that all? Maybe she's in the bathroom or something, you know how girls get," he said.

Chris walked over to the door, spotting a spilt coffee on the floor. "I don't think so, Barry. There's something going on here, and I'm worried that she could be in trouble," he said. "Can you send someone to the hospital right away? I want a sketch artist to get a description from Claire and St..." Chris faded when he looked outside.  
In the parking lot, he spotted someone sitting down, rubbing their head.

"Claire and who, Chris?" asked Barry.

"Steve..." he said. "Barry, get me backup here as fast as you can," he said. He ran out of the hospital, straight for Steve. "Hey are you okay?" he called out as he ran.

Steve held his head and looked up. His vision was a bit blurry, but he recognized Chris. "Yeah, I think so...My head really hurts though. Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in the parking lot at the hospital...Do you remember what happened?" asked Chris.

Steve shook his head. "Not really...I think someone hit me. That doctor, who was helping Claire, he hit me and then said something about a bait," he said. "I don't really know, I think he hit me again after that I don't remember..."

Chris sighed. "And you woke up out here?" he asked.

"No, I remember hearing him talking to someone. Not sure, I think it was Jill, but I didn't wanna wake up in case he'd hit me again. So I waited for him to drive away before opening my eyes...didn't think he'd throw me down so hard," said Steve. He picked up something next to him while Chris went back on his phone.  
"Barry, this is bad, I think we found our murderer," he said.  
"I over-heard...You think he's got Jill?" asked Barry.

Chris took in a deep breath. If this guy was actually the killer, then from what Steve said he'd been alone with Claire most of the day. That gave him a very uneasy feeling. "I think so. Steve says he thinks he heard her voice, and I can't find her anywhere. If not, then he still has someone with him so we have to find him before he kills again," he said.

"I'll get right on it. Someone's heading there as we speak, but how do we know where he's going?" asked Barry.  
"We'll find the car," said Chris.

"It was a white van," said Steve. "And here, I just found this," he said, handing a phone over to Chris.

Chris took it and felt a knot in his stomach. It was Jill's, and it was broken.

"Chris!" called someone behind him.

He turned and saw Leon running over with a paper in his hand. "Chris, check this out!" said Leon.

"What is it?" asked Chris, taking the paper.  
"When we talked to the security guard he said he was able to freeze-frame the video and print out whatever was on screen. It was a new security feature they brought in last year," said Leon. "So he got this for you."

Chris looked on the paper and saw a frozen camera-image of a doctor talking to someone. It was zoomed-in, and his face was clearly showing. "This is perfect," he said. He brought his phone up. "Barry, we've got a picture. I'll get Leon to fax it to you right away, and you can check the system. This guy has to live here somewhere," he said.

Leon looked at Chris. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm going to find that van," he said.

Leon nodded. "Well I'm coming with you, then. Someone needs to watch your back, and I'm not putting any bets on this guy," he said, nodding towards Steve, who was standing up.  
Chris shook his head. "I need this faxed to the station," he said.  
Steve grabbed the paper. "I'll do it. I don't really wanna go anywhere else, and this way he can go with you," he said.

Chris sighed. He knew the Chief would have his head if he took the kid with him on a dangerous mission like this, but Leon was right; someone had to watch his back, and he couldn't wait for backup to get here. "Alright, go now. They'll have the station's fax number for sure, and tell them it's an emergency. Barry," he said in the phone, "standby and wait for it to come in. When backup gets here, I want someone to go straight to the fitting room to watch Claire. He's probably not coming back here but I'm not taking any chances."  
"Gotcha," said Barry.

"Send Forrest, if he's around," said Chris.

"Sure thing," and with that Barry hung up.

Leon picked up the garage door-opener and examined it. "What's this?" he asked.

"Looks like a remote for something," said Steve.

"Well obviously," said Leon. He flipped it around and read the back. "It's for a garage. Says here not to attempt to pass under the door when it's lowering, and not to block it with anything," he said.

Chris turned and started towards the lot. "I don't wanna take the cruiser on this, it's too obvious," he said.

"So what are you taking?" asked Leon, following him. Steve was already running back to the hospital, his headache ignored for the moment.

"This," said Chris, stopping in front of a Jeep.

Leon looked at it. "Isn't that Jill's? You're gonna hot-wire Jill's Jeep?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," he said. He opened the driver's door and got in.  
Leon got in on the other side. "So how are you planning on driving this?" he asked.

Chris started picking at the Jeep logo in the steering wheel. Leon watched him, confused, as he ripped the whole thing off and revealed a small compartment. "I knew it," he said. He reached in and pulled out a key.

"How did you know about that?" asked Leon, amazed.

Chris started the Jeep and looked back to him with a smug grin. "I noticed the logo was sort of popping out, and she'd told me her horn didn't work. But this is a pretty new model, so there wouldn't be a reason for it not to work," he said.

"...Unless she de-activated it and rigged a secret compartment in the wheel," said Leon.

"Exactly. It was all just a lucky hunch, but Jill's getting to be pretty predictable," said Chris. His grin disappeared, and Leon noticed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine," he said.

"Someone always says that in a movie right before they find the person's dead body, Leon."  
Leon grinned. "This is Jill we're talking about," he said.

Chris nodded. _I'll find you, Jill,_ he said.


	31. Revenge

****NOTE: Sorry to split this up in so many chapters...I'm on a roll and had some parts already written just waiting there, and I don't wanna leave chapters up in a cliff-hanger. But if I just type away, a chapter could reach about 20 pages or so. I'm working as we speak so please bare with me until the end. Which should FINALLY be coming soon!****

Jill opened her eyes slowly, blinking to get them to focus. She tried rubbing them with her hands, but couldn't get them up. She shook her head and blinked again, her vision finally adjusting. It only took a second for her to realize she was sitting on a chair in a dusty, window-less basement, with her hands and legs tied up. She pulled at the ropes around her wrists, but they were tied pretty tightly.  
"Wouldn't want you escaping, now," said a familiar voice.  
Jill looked up, but the lighting wasn't bright enough to see anything. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Revenge, of course," said the voice.

Jill pulled at the bindings again. "Revenge for what? I've seriously been in this town for about a week or so, I haven't had the time to do anything wrong," she said.

The man stepped out from a shadowed corner, holding her gun. "You arrested my son."

Jill stopped pulling at the ropes and looked at him. "I arrested your son...Landers?" she asked.  
"Micheal," corrected the man.

"So, your son breaks the law, I arrest him, and you find kidnapping to be a proper justification?"

"Are you telling me you've never broken the law yourself, miss _Valentine_?" he asked.

Jill could tell by his tone that he'd heard of the name. _Great, thanks dad,_ she thought. "I work for the law now, it's different. Your son had his chances, but attempting to kill someone isn't the right way to change," she said.

The man laughed. "No, I'm sure it isn't, but nevertheless he's no longer with us and you're to blame for this," he said.

Jill sighed. She couldn't figure this guy out. "I don't get it. If you're only after me, why'd you kill that kid last night?" she asked.

He laughed again. "I needed the practice, it's been a while. Plus, I knew you'd be kept awake all night working on the case, giving me the advantage," he said.

"Practice?" asked Jill.  
"My dear, I've been in this business for quite a long time. I thought I'd retired when my son was born, and tried to settle down, but old habits die hard," he said.

"I see. You're a serial," said Jill. "So why didn't you just shoot me while I was out?"

He laughed again. "You just said it yourself, I'm a serial. I do enjoy watching people die, but only in certain ways," he said.

Jill thought back to the victim in the woods. She'd been found hanging upside down from a tree, naked, and she knew for sure the autopsy would reveal signs of sexual abuse. The thought alone sent a shiver down her back.

"And, of course, none of that would work at a hospital. Plus this is personal," he said.

"Personal!? Your son had it freaking coming! Why is it so hard to understand that?" yelled Jill.  
"Keep it down, please, I have neighbors," he said.  
"NEIGHBORS!? Seriously, I can't figure you out. Can you just kill me and save me the hassle of thinking so m-"  
He brought the gun up and shot right past her head. "I would appreciate it if you'd stopped talking now," he said. "I have to go upstairs, but if I so much as hear one noise I'll be back down."

Jill grinned. "And what, shoot me? I thought you had a preference," she said.

"There are places on the human body that can be shot without fatality. For example," he said, and shot the floor right between Jill's feet. She pulled them up with a slight yelp, which made him grin. "Now, be quiet," he said, and headed up a staircase. He shut off the light and closed the door, leaving Jill in the dark.


	32. The Final Curtain

Chris drove the Jeep down as many streets as he could, keeping an eye out for a white van. The city wasn't too big, but he was afraid they might've gotten on the highway and left. According to Steve, it wasn't so long ago so maybe, just MAYBE, he could catch them in time.

Next to him, Leon kept pushing the button on the garage remote. He was still looking out for the van, so Chris thought it might be a nervous thing, that he probably didn't even notice it himself.

"THERE!" yelled Leon, pointing out the window.

Chris slammed on the breaks at the sudden outburst, and glared at the boy. "What the hell? Don't do that!" he said.

Leon hit the remote again, and looked at Chris. "That garage is opening and closing!" he said.

"Yes, Leon, they do that," said Chris. He started driving again, but Leon grabbed the stick and shifted it to park. Chris sighed and looked at him. "We don't have time for this!"

Leon held up the remote and hit the button. The garage door opened. "It's responding to this," he said.

Chris shook his head. "It's a wireless garage opener, it could set off any door set to one," he said.

"They don't work like th-"

"Leon, look!" said Chris. He'd been looking at the garage opening, and a wave of relief came over him.

Leon turned to look and saw a white van parked in the garage. "No way..." he said.

Chris pulled over on the side of the road and got out of the Jeep. "You wait here," he said. "If I'm not back in five minutes, call the station and tell Barry where we are," he said. He took his phone out and tossed it on the seat.

"Chris, this could be dangerous," said Leon.

"I know, that's why you're staying here," said Chris. He walked towards the house, thankful he'd clipped his holster to his belt before leaving for the hospital.

He walked up to the front door, took in a deep breath, and knocked. There was no answer, so he knocked again. He looked through the window, but there was no sign of anyone on their way. He tried the knob, and it was unlocked. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped inside the house.

"Hello?" he called out. "This is the police, is anyone home?"

There was a partially-open door under the stairs, but everything else indicated an empty house. "Hello?" he called out again, slowly making his way to the open door.

* * *

Jill once again had to force her eyes to adjust, now that it was dark. She could hear him walking around upstairs, and hoped she'd find a way out of the chair before he got back.

She heard the door open and the light flicked on. It didn't light up much of the basement, but was just bright enough to hurt her eyes.

"Hello?"

Jill looked up but couldn't see anything. She recognized the voice.

"Is anyone down there?"

It was Chris. He'd found her, somehow. It seemed unlikely, though.

_It's a trick,_ she thought. _I clearly took a blow to the head, and my mind's tricking me. If I call out, that psycho's gonna run down here and kill me._

The footsteps started down the stairs slowly. She could see shoes now. No, boots; Chris' boots. It was possible that her mind was making her see what she wanted to see, but she decided to take that risk.

"Chris?" she said.

The boots stopped. "Jill?"

"Chris, down here!" she yelled.

Chris started down the stairs faster. A bit too fast, even, because what seemed like one step at a time turned to all the steps at once. He'd been pushed down.

"I see the backup's arrived," said the killer.

"No!" yelled Jill.

Chris was at the bottom of the stairs, against a cement wall. He started getting back up, but froze mid-step. He put his hands up, and Jill figured the killer had the gun on him.

"How did you find this place?" asked the killer.

Chris glanced over to Jill. "You okay?" he asked.

Before Jill could answer, the killer smacked the gun in Chris' face. "Answer me!" he said.

"It's a house, it's not exactly well-hidden," said Chris.

The killer must've figured it out. "You used the garage remote, didn't you..." he said.

Chris nodded, and once again glanced over to Jill. She didn't look hurt, and was clearly breathing; just how he'd hoped to find her.

"In the corner, now," said the killer.

Chris did as told, knowing better than to argue against a killer with a gun. "You should know, backup's on the way. They know I'm here," he said.

The killer laughed. "So they'll find two dead bodies instead of one. Too bad I won't have time to kill you properly," he looked over to Jill as he said it. He kept the gun aimed at Chris, and started walking over to the chair she was on.

Jill pulled at the ropes again, harder this time, but they wouldn't give out any slack. "Stay away from me," she said, glaring at him.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you first. I have a feeling watching this guy die would hurt you almost as bad as what I'd planned," he said.

Chris started standing, but the killer raised the gun forward. "Don't you move, hero," he said. He laughed again when Chris put his hands up. "See, neither of you gets this, but I have the control here."

Suddenly, his body convulsed into intense shaking, almost like a seizure. He yelled and dropped the gun, then fell to the floor and continued convulsing. Chris and Jill both looked to the stairs and saw Leon there, holding a stun-gun.

"Hey, um...I know you said to stay in the car, but I had a really bad feeling when you walked in the house. I found this is Jill's glove compartment and came in after you," he said.

Chris put his hands down and rushed to the killer. He picked up the gun and flicked the safety on, then tossed it to Leon. "Thank you, Leon...You're getting the credit for this one," he said.

"Yeah Leon, thanks! I can't believe you guys actually found me..." said Jill.

Chris crouched down behind the chair and untied the ropes. "I knew you'd be close by, Steve said he was awake when the van drove off so it couldn't have been so long before," he said. He took the rope and quickly tied the twitching killer's hands behind his back.

Jill rubbed her wrists and looked at Leon. "Steve...I'm glad he's okay, I was worried," she said.

Chris stood up and grabbed her wrist, looking at it. "Looks like rope burn," he said.

"Chris...Thank you," she said.

He looked at her and nodded with a smile. "No way was I giving up," he said.

Jill leaped forward and hugged him. She was tough enough not to cry, but now that it was over she realized just how bad things could've been.

Chris returned the hug. "I think I hear sirens," he said.

"I called Barry, he said he 'd be here faster than I could say 'freeze, dirtbag' to the killer," said Leon.

Chris turned to look at him. "But you didn't say freeze," he said.

Leon held his arms up. "Exactly...Barry's pretty prompt I guess," he said. He headed up the stairs to meet them outside, grinning.  
Chris looked down to Jill. "How you holding up?" he asked.

"Exhausted," she said. She pulled away and looked down at the killer. "They'll have fun with this guy...Apparently he was a serial killer who hopped off the radar to have a family. I'm sure they'll have plenty on him," she said.

Barry came running down the stairs with three other officers. "Well well, what do we have here?" he asked.

"Hey, Barry, thanks for coming," said Jill.

He walked by and put a hand on her shoulder. "Glad to see you're okay, kid. Alright then, no more slacking off, we'll handle this guy, you two go home and get some sleep for god's sake," he said, smiling.

"You got it," said Chris. He put his arm around Jill's shoulders and they headed out the basement. "Oh, by the way, I found your secret key compartment in the Jeep," he said.

Jill sighed and leaned her head against him. "And I thought that thing was foolproof," she said.

They laughed.


	33. Happy Endings

It had been a month since the killer had been arrested. Leon had gotten a junior award at the station for his help, even though Chief Irons had nearly popped a vein during a rant about his presence in a dangerous situation. The information Jill had gotten from the killer helped a federal investigation come to an end, and one of America's most-wanted criminals was now behind bars in a maximum-security prison for life.  
Steve wasn't allowed to go out late when his father found out about his being in the woods the night of a murder, but he stuck around his new friends as much as he could.

Claire's leg had healed very well, and she was now in a walking air-cast, which had Chris on edge.

"So, I guess you'll be running again really soon, huh?" he asked his younger sister.  
She set her burger down and glared at him. "I know where you're going with this, and it's not funny."  
He grinned. "I think it's funny," he said. "Funny how many years of chores you'll be doing to help me pay for those hospital bills," he added.

"Oh, come on! It was an accident, Chris. ACCIDENT!" she said.

"What was an accident?" asked Jill, walking back to the table with a coffee. She slid into the booth next to Chris, sipping her coffee as he put his arm around her.

"Chris is still making fun of me about the car thing, like it's making him cool or something," said Claire.

Jill sighed. "Chris, you really should leave her alone," she said.  
"He won't. I'm pretty sure there's more air in his head than in this cast," said Claire, taking a bite out of her burger.  
Chris went to protest, but Jill burst out laughing. Instead, he took her coffee and sipped it. "Mine now, you guys are mean," he said.

The bell at the door rang and they all turned to see Leon and Steve. "I don't care what you say, Kennedy, I'm faster," said Steve.

"What's going on?" asked Claire.

Leon sighed and slid in the booth next to Claire. Steve slid in after him. "Your boyfriend's mad 'cause I beat him in a race," he said.

"He didn't beat me, I fell and he kept going," said Leon.

Claire rolled her eyes. "I can't wait to be able to skate again, I'll beat both of you and end this stupid competition," she said.

Steve laughed. "I remember the last time I saw you skate," he said.

Remembering the day they'd met Steve felt like just yesterday, and they all laughed at the thought of Claire knocking them both right off the bridge. Of course, Claire didn't laugh, but her cheeks turned red from embarrassment, which made them all laugh even harder.

The group's friendship was one that wouldn't be broken so easily, and they all knew it.

End.


	34. Author's Note

Hello,

I wanted to add this note to thank you for reading this story. But mostly, I wanna thank everyone who's been patient with me, and encouraged me. This story was started years ago, and I never would've sat down and finished it if it wasn't for all your awesome reviews, personal messages, and whatnot.

I hope the ending didn't make anyone mad, as I am aware the style changed a bit and everything was being written fast. I wasn't rushing it, I just started with an idea and ran with it for two nights.

But again, I thank you very much for your patience and time, and hopefully I'll get to another story and have the opportunity to switch it from "in progress" to "complete".

Most satisfactory.

^_^ Thanks guys!

-Ninjazz


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